Second Chance
by SheenaTH
Summary: This story takes place after the events of Dirge of Cerberus in the abandoned Labs of the Shinra Head Quarters. Old lives will be given a second chance at living the life that they left behind. The Question thou, how will Reality treat them? Will the past caught up to them? Or will they get the chance to live free of worries and fears? ZackXAerith story with mention of other pairs
1. The price was Paid

**Chapter 1:**

He woke up to a familiar scene, green liquid, wet atmosphere, an air mask on his face, and a hard thick glass in front of him. He had been in such a situation before but one thing is different this time. He wasn't in the Shinra Mansion's basement lab in Nibilhim, oh no, he knew that location very well. This place had a dark atmosphere as that lab but more dark, more… scary. But he couldn't tell what or where this place is unless he gets out of this test tube… again.

Snickering, he didn't know why but he felt like he needed to turn his head to his left. He felt a small smile creep up to him because of his idea that if he did he'd see a sleeping Cloud in another mako chamber next to his. Regardless of the silly thought he decided to look, it wouldn't kill him to, right?

He looked to his side and surprise SURPRISE… there WAS another mako chamber next to his but he couldn't see who or what was in it because the mako in the chamber was very dense. But he could have sworn that he spotted brown strands in there. But again it did not matter now, he needed to get out first then he can worry about his jail mate.

Slowly he lifted his arms up and rested them on the glass. His arms felt numb which confirmed the fact that he had been out for a long time. He shook his arms a bit to wake them up before he started banging on the thick glass. He gradually regained his SOLIDER strength and the result he aimed for showed after minutes of pounding and later kicking till he finally broke his container and fell to the cold steel floor coughing. He rested there for a while then shook the liquid out of his hair, and with the bit of strength he had left, got himself up and steadily got on his feet. He immediately got into alert mode and took his defensive position while looking at his surroundings carefully for any sudden attack… but no one was there… the place was completely deserted. And another thing, he was in a lab, and not just ANY lab, but HOJO's in the Shinra building of all places. There was no mistaking it; he visited this specific lab many times before when he was still part of SOLIDER.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. all of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	2. Companion?

**Chapter 2:**

After much investigation in the cold dark lab with not much power to run the entire lab section he was in, there was just enough to keep the second mako chamber running and the lab computer. He concluded that his old friend, Cloud, was a hero to the town which made him proud and that the 'good old professor' had finally lost his marbles in his final few days. And judging from the chambers' conditions and last reports written, he and whoever was with him were in this sleeping statue for probably two or three years max; for what reason? He had no clue but it looked like the project they were part of was dropped after it was deemed 'failure'. He was again spared because of that word, and he was very thankful for that cause who knows what would have happened if he was a success. That thought gave him the shivers just thinking about it.

Enough of that he thought as he turned his attention to the dense mako chamber in front of him. Whoever was in there must have suffered just as much as he did being locked away in this cold lab, forgotten and lonely like himself. He looked at the control panel to the chamber and studied the report on this poor soul. This person depending on the report stored is a Cetra. Much to his surprise because the only person he knew and was for sure the last, informed by Tseng of the turks, is Aerith. Aerith… how has she been? She probably thought that he left her, which was not true at all. He sighed as he thought more on that subject while his fingers typed in the code for the mako draining process for the chamber.

Recalling the time he tried reaching Midgar with a mako poisoned Cloud while avoiding Shinra troops and thwacking Genesis' plans, only to be killed by the last three soldiers at the town's outskirts. He looked down at his bullet torn worn out uniform as memories filled his mind and he tasted death. All that hard work and that energy to get home… only to be wasted just a few yards away. He was hell bent on getting there and seeing her smiling face greeting him after all the pain and trouble he had been through.

He sighed again after confirming the code and waited for the mako chamber to drain out completely. Six or seven years are far too late to fix their relationship now. Although he wished he could at least explain what had happened to him, he knew that the chances of seeing her now was very slim. The next thing he heard was the beep of the control panel signaling that the chamber was fully drained and ready to be opened. As he looked up to the empty chamber, his eyes widen with both shock and surprise…

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. all of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	3. Getting Ready for a Trip

**Chapter 3:**

Just a little more, he thought as he climbed up the damaged stair case of the old broken down building carefully with an unconscious Aerith on his back. He was in complete shock when he saw her in that mako chamber a while ago. The person he wanted to see the most right now and thought to have missed his chance years ago was standing right in front of him looking a bit different after such a long time from how he last seen her. She looked older and mature but her signature smile and soft facial expression were still as adorable and sweet as it always had. AND SHE WAS WEARING A PINK DRESS! She actually considered his idea after all. He was smiling this whole time after seeing her but then he frowned, realizing something. Why was she here? What was the experiment they wanted her for? That thought loomed over him for a while but since there was no one around to answer him or the project report either then there was no point in thinking about it, for now that is. His priority now was to get out of these damaged and mako drenched clothes, get some supplies and equipment, and leave this place as fast as he could.

He finally entered the SOLIDER floor after much climbing. His first instinct was to put Aerith down near the stair case entrance and look around, and mostly likely get rid of any monsters hanging around. He picked up a rusted pole off the floor and walked around, lucky for him the place wasn't that infested with dangerous creatures and the locker room still had some useful supplies stored. He went back to where he left Aerith then headed to the locker room. After entering, he placed her leaning on the wall and began collecting the supplies from the storage units. He found some working materia, a well-kept sword, some bandages, two SOLIDER 2nd class uniforms, and a backpack.

Placing all the items he found next to his sleeping angel, he took one of the uniforms and headed opposite of her to change. He stripped the worn out and drenched uniform and threw it aside. Glancing aside, he spotted his reflection in a broken mirror and turned to face it. Inspecting himself, he placed his hands on his broad chest where he lazily dazed at the faint bullet marks that scared him. A permanent reminder of what Shinra has done to him. Shinra and SOLIDER were his idols growing up, and he worked hard in order to get into their ranks and become a hero. But now he knew the dark secrets it hid from the world and his perspective changed because of it. But one thing won't change, his morals and respect as SOLIDER, the SOLIDER he learned from his mentor Angeal, he would keep holding on to that for as long as he lived.

After he got changed and packed up, he realized that he forgot something important that he must do before. He slapped his forehead with little force as he forced an awkward smile on his face then took a deep breath before sighing loudly, a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. He then composed himself as much as he could and turned his sights to his unconscious partner. He had to get her out of that mako-drenched dress…

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	4. What Had Been There

**Chapter 4:**

It had been over an hour since he exited the old broken down Shinra building. The scenery around him was frightening with all the run down houses and tall buildings that were either broken or had collapsed on either side of the street, sure he read about what had happened to Midgar in the database but he never imagined it looking like this. He slowly and carefully walked down the rubble filled streets with his lover, who was now sporting the SOLIDER 2nd class uniform like himself, on his back, a bag across his chest, and a scabbard on his waist which his sword rested in. It felt uncomfortable to him having the sword on his side and wished that he could place it on his back like he's used to, but his back was currently occupied. He was thankful that no monster had attack them yet because it would have been a hassle for him to defend himself and Aerith and defeating them at the same time.

After reaching the train station, which used to be the only transport for people to get from the upper plate to the slum, he stopped and looked around in wonder on where to go. At the moment, he decided to head to Aerith's church to rest and plan his next move. He carefully descended to the empty rail and continued his way to the slums. Glancing at his sleeping passenger, he smiled at her peaceful looking face and felt her soft breathing, gentle beating heart, and warmth on his back. He had missed her so much and was finally going to have the chance to speak with her after so long, he just hopes that she would hear him out first. He then turned his attention forward to avoid slipping off the dangerous looking rails leading him to his desired destination. Soon the city of Edge came to view, the city that the surviving citizens of Midgar had built after the Meteor incident years ago.

Everyone he knew, including Cloud, is probably living there now. He imagined him working a very odd job rather than just sitting behind a counter and managing a store. He wondered if the blond chocobo haired man still gets stomachaches after long car rides or if he was still the quiet, friendly, and ambitious guy that he met a long time ago. Other than Cloud, he started to wonder how his parents were doing. Were they alive and well? Were they looking for him? Did they forget about him? Or did they believe what lies Shinra has told them about him being died? The later is probably what they were told about him, typical of them to spread that news and exclude the info that they experimented on him for 4 years, hunt him down, put him on the verge of death, and experiment on him again. They just couldn't let him die in peace.

Feeling disgusted of the thought, he shook his head to reduce his frustration on the subject. He did not want to think of it right now, he needed to focus on the railroad in front of him. First order of business was getting to the church before dark safely and then rest. Afterwards he could think all he wanted about the Shinra subject and other important things.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	5. Resting in Memory Line

**Chapter 5:**

He made it, it took him hours of walking, descending, and fighting of monsters, but he finally reached the desired destination. Aerith's church it still stood there looking a bit damaged but it still was stable and safe. Entering the large doors, he noticed the changes immediately. His buster sword was in a stone over looking a pool of water where Aerith's flowers were and some benches were ruined beyond repair. He carefully made his way closer to the back of the building observing the surroundings. He stopped at a fine looking and sturdy bench and places his sleeping partner on it while he continued examining the building.

He stood in front of the big buster sword looking over all its detail. It looks clean, probably just cleaned by Cloud, and polished well. Did Cloud place his sword here to mark his grave? But he died in the out skirts. What was the reason for Cloud to leave his sword here and not use it or at least carry it? Or maybe he left it here for display? Well for whatever reason he had, he was glad he did. He took out the sword he's been carrying and pulled out the large sword on the stone. He swapped them and took the large sword on his back as he now turned his attention to the pool of clean water and examined it.

It didn't smell, it looked normal, and it didn't taste different from regular water. But he felt the presents of the life stream in it some how. Since it didn't cause him any pain or any side effects then it was ok to drink from it. He pulled out a canteen he had in his bag and dunked it in the water to fill. As it filled, he looked at the water's surface and looked at the familiar flower petals floating on it. He snickered thinking that whoever dug this in is going to face Aerith's wrath. Screwing the canteen lid tightly, he walking over to the pillars near the water pool examining their stability when he mistakenly kicked something. He looked down at the source near his feet and saw an oil lamp; thankfully it was empty and dusty. Looked like some one used the church as shelter at some point.

After finishing the inspection, he went back to his sleeping lover and sat next to her, his sword besides him standing. His eyelids got heavier as he realized that it got dark outside. His legs and arms ached of the painful day he just had after being asleep and still for so long. After his nap he really needed to squat and stretch before running head first into any action.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	6. From the Stream to Here

**Chapter 6:**

This was all familiar to her, the feel of the air around her and the soft scent of flowers in the atmosphere it reminded her of home. But that can't be possible… she was dead… wasn't she? She remembered roaming in the life stream helping Cloud to forgive himself for her and Zack's death. Afterwards everything was peaceful and she got to finally make up for the lost time with her first life. But suddenly he faded from the life stream at one point and she got very worried. She would ask the planet about where her lover had gone and the answer was always Midgar which she found very confusing and strange. She decided to go to the Midgar region at one point to go and look for him. But she suddenly felt like she was being forcefully pulled towards it as the scenery changed drastically than every thing went black. Along with that came a sharp pain surging through her spiritual body. The pain was too much for her to bare that she fainted.

The next thing she felt was movement all around her, as if someone was moving her from one place to another judging from the changes in the air around her. She couldn't open her eyes yet to see who or what it was but for some reason, she felt like she could fully trust whatever it was moving her. She sometimes felt warm then the next minute she was cold, then warm again. This warmth came with a caring heartbeat and rough breathing, as if they were on a long journey to reach somewhere important and safe. They were forcing them selves to reach that impossible goal, that much she could confirm. She wished she could tell them to stop and rest or to, at the very least, thank them but her voice betrayed her and never sounded once since the start of this ordeal. The only thing at the moment keeping her from being upset about her situation was the calming and gentle heartbeat of whoever was helping her and the additional whispers of the planet assuring her that she needed not to worry about her dilemma and that she was in completely good hands.

Time had passed by her so slowly, but she finally felt herself being put down. She did not want them to, she was afraid of them leaving. That's when her hearing finally kicked in allowing her to hear her environment. Her ears quickly picked up on the heavy footsteps echoing in a hall like area. They were somewhere indoors almost and the floors were wooden from the sound of the gentle crack and creek of it. They got slightly farther away from her but got closer later. This happened in a repeated pattern for almost half an hour when they finally got back to her side. The surface she was on stirred a bit from the extra weight. A gentle warm object patted her head then slipped under her hand, holding it tightly. That warmth, those gentle touches, and that heartbeat from before. It was all too familiar to her but she couldn't place her finger on who it maybe.

But whoever it was, she begged them to stay, Just till she could thank them for all the help that they have given her earlier.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	7. The End of her Search

**Chapter 7:**

It felt natural to open her eyes now, more normal and easier then before. And she can feel her limbs but not her lower limbs for some reason. One of her hands still had that warmth from before and she just noticed that it was heavy. Curiosity took over her; she had to know whom it was now that she could. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, at first her vision was blurry and everything was just a big colorful blob in her view momentarily. But with time, her vision cleared and everything got sharper. She saw that the scenery around her was her own old church. The early morning sun was visible and shined in from the open roof. The gentle rays reflected off the pool of clear water lighting the hall she sat in. the shimmering surface rippled as flower petals danced on it carefully making it look so calm and peaceful in her perspective. Her eyes glanced around the familiar scene in front of her before her gaze landed on the large gloved hand covering her own small hand.

Her eyes slowly followed the arm up to it's owner's face, widening at the suddenly discovery of the person's identity. It was him, Zack Fair, the man that left on his mission years ago and went missing. The man that she later discovered his demise when they met in the life stream. The man that later on disappeared from the life stream for unknown reason and was searching for him ever since. She found it hard to maintain her tears, she was happy to have found him and he looked safe and… alive? But how was that possible? And not just him, she too was living and breathing but how? The army killed him and Sephiroth killed her, and their deaths weren't recent either. The question repeated itself in her mind and no matter how she twisted and turned it she couldn't find a reasonable answer for it. The planet's whispers soon interrupted her train of thoughts, drowning her hearing with voices all going at once that she couldn't focus on any at all.

As if to her rescue, the man beside her stirred in his sleep causing her attention to divert from the voices to him. But he wasn't waking up yet he was merely fixing his sleeping position. When he did his arms wrapped themselves around her thin figure and pulled her closer to himself, unintentionally of course. She found that her head now rested in the man's broad warm chest in this new development and it caused her to blush in a bright shade of red. She was also having a hard time breathing not because he was holding her tightly, it was because she was embarrassed at this sudden position that he put her in accidentally. As she looked up to his face she noticed him smiling in his sleep, he's probably having a nice dream and it would be a shame to wake him up now. Although she didn't want to admit it, his warmth was just what she needed at the moment and he didn't seem likely to wake up anytime soon either.

As she gave up to his embrace, she felt the tension in his muscles from the long journey from who knows where to here. But at least he was relaxing now, so maybe she shouldn't wake him up just yet.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	8. Memories that Haunt him

**Chapter 8:**

Everything was in flames, houses, crops, trees, and so much more that the greedy flames could get a hold of. And he, with all his pride and courage, was shivering in fear at the sight he was exposed to. People were fleeing for their lives all around him while he stood there, motionless. When he finally got to his senses the flames had died down and everything around him was pitch black. His eyes traveled the scenery around him trying to find something, or anything for that matter, which could have survived the ashes. As he took a step forward, his leg got caught on a heavy object that caused him to loose his balance and fall face first in to an oddly colored puddle. When he felt the unmistakable slight taste of copper in his mouth he pushed himself out of it and began wiping away the liquid that was now on his face. The smell had only reinforced his fears about what it was but he still did not want to believe what his mind had already confirmed it to be. He reluctantly opened his eyes after most of the liquid's trace was off his face, his composure paled at the sight of the red colored puddle that he had fallen in moments ago verifying it to be warm blood. His eyes soon spotted a trail of blood leading backwards, he knew that he would regret it but he couldn't help but let his eyes follow the trail to satisfy his curiosity. Carefully following the trail with his eyes he soon found the source being a man laying face down on the muddy dirt. He did not need to see the man's face to know who he was, Zack's face drained of all color as the dead man's blond chocobo like hair revealed his identity all too well in his eyes. He quickly got off the ground and moved away from his dead friend in horror but he found himself tripping backwards on yet another familiar corpse, this one being Aerith.

The recent discovery filled him with even more fear as well as anger at what monster could have done such a thing to two of the people that he cherished most. The answer soon came to him in the form of that heavy chuckle that he knew all to well. It was the same chuckle that he heard on the night of the Nibelheim incident, that same night that his so called 'hero' turned into a mad man right before his eyes. He slowly turned his head to the direction of the chuckling and his suspicion was confirmed. It was the long silver haired ex-SOLIDER with his long blood covered Masamune to his side, his face had the evil and lifeless smile carved on and his bright cyan eyes were completely focused on him.

In that very second all Zack's fears drained away and was replaced with anger. The man in front of him had caused so much suffering for everyone he ever knew, he couldn't just sit back and let him cause more pain to others. With that resolve he scrambled to his feet and picked up his Buster sword. He channeled his energy into it and steadily eyed his target but the man just stood there with his smile growing wider.

"Still playing hero aren't we? When are you going to give up and realize that you have already lost?" Sephiroth laughed, he made no indication that he was going to fight back but Zack wasn't going to let him get to him that easily. He charged forward, quickly closing the gap between himself and his former idol. Just as he was about to attempt his Chain Slash on him, the mad man disappeared right before his eyes and was replaced with a mako tank that sealed shut as soon as he was in it. Try as he might but his glass prison wouldn't even retain a scratch. And soon he spotted figures forming from the darkness around him gathering, all of which were enemies that he fought in the past. They all had that same evil grin on their faces just as Sephiroth did a while ago. And in their hands they revealed one by one to have a gun or rifle ready and aimed right at him. Zack didn't think much of himself being in harms way because of the strong glass surrounding him but that soon changed, the tank broke apart exposing him completely to the enemies around him. His eyes widen at the sudden change realizing that he had nowhere to neither run nor hide at that very moment. His instincts took over from that point, shielding his face and shutting his eyes prying for a miracle to save him the second the sound of the triggers being pulled reached his ears.

BANG!

He sat up from the bench breathing heavily and sweating fast from the horrible nightmare that stirred him awake. His heartbeat was in a mile long race and that it would jump out of his chest from the force and pain. He placed his shivering hand on his chest just to make sure that he was still alive. After confirming that he was breathing and felt his own pulse, he rested his back on the bench and slowed his breathing hoping to calm down from his adrenalin. His eyes focused on the morning sun shinning down from the opening on the church roof. With a quick sigh escaping his lips he slowly closed his eyes to try erasing the thoughts that resulted from his nightmare. But his heart soon raced again when a slightly cool hand rested on his forehead all a sudden.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	9. Reunion

**Chapter 9:**

His reflexes took over at that moment and he quickly slid to the side attempting to get away from the source but his effort was unsuccessful as both he and the cause of his sudden reaction fell to the floor with the later being on top of himself, lucky for them they didn't get any injuries from the fall. Zack groaned from the sudden weight that fell on him but it wasn't causing him any pain. He then carefully sat up to avoid discomforting the other, he found himself staring at the face of his angle, Aerith, and her back at him. Neither of them spoke and they just sat there silently for a while before he finally had the courage to speak.

"Did I die and go to heaven… again?" he gave a shaky smile at her, hoping that she won't reject him on the spot, his mind was at ease after seeing the corners of her mouth curve upwards and he continued "Cause I'm seeing an angle right in front of me." The girl shook her head still baring the smile on her face with the addition of a soft giggle "You haven't changed one bit either… Zack." Her hands cup his face that was burning hot from the nightmare he woke up from a while ago. "You ok? Do you have a fever?" her voice sounding ever so sweet and caring, it was sweet music to his ear that has almost forgotten how she sounded like. His hands reached up to her small ones and took them down gently, keeping them in his "Aerith, I've missed you so much… I know that you wrote that you've lost hope in me, but I… you see… It's…" He sighed; his mind couldn't form a single sentence that could explain to her the hardship he faced trying to get back to her. It all sounded like excuses, and he didn't want to blame anyone but himself for what had happened back then even if it wasn't his fault. "Please… forgive me… I'll-" his apology was cut short by Aerith who had placed her finger on his lips to stop him. She already knew what had happened to him, she heard about the incident from both him and Cloud when she entered the life stream. She and Zack had already made up when they met up after her death, but it seems that she was the only one that kept her memories from the life stream. "Don't worry, I'll forgive you…" She moved away her finger just as Zack huffed a sigh of relief "But on one condition" She continued, the smile never left her face and she lifted up one finger "You own me date" her smile got brighter as she concluded and her arms wrap around his neck, pulling her self up to his eye level. His hand went up to her face and moved the strands of her hair that blocked his view of her face "Deal." He smiled back at her and closed the distance between them, sealing the deal with a kiss.

After their little reunion, the two tried to stand up but Aerith had a difficult time moving her legs at all. Maybe her body still didn't recover fully like Zack's did or maybe there was another reason, either way she was stuck and needed his help. "Something the matter Aerith?" he sounded worried as he glanced at her troubled expression. She looked up to him and replaced her current expression with a normal one as she wanted to ease his concern "Not a big deal really but I could use some help getting up" Zack nodded and held her carefully around her waist. He got them both up on their feet but as soon as he released his grip she fell back down, as if she were a doll on strings. Thankfully thou his reflexes were quicker and he was able to catch her before she hit the wooden floor.

"Woah! Don't worry, I've got you" he yelled out as he then held her close out of worry. Aerith, herself, was clinging tightly to his shirt out of shock over what had just happened. Her heart was beating fast because of that, but why? Why can't she get a response from her legs at all? If they were numb then they would have been back to normal after she woke up the first time. That's when she recalled the last terrifying memory she had, the one about her death, the one of Sephiroth's sword going through her from the back. She remembered seeing no blood, but there was pain a lot of pain. It soon disappeared and she limbed forward dropping her white materia and pink ribbon. When Sephiroth pulled out his sword she remembered falling to her side, she had tried to move back then too but her legs won't respond at all. Her eyes widen at the realization after her flash back had ended and tears formed in her eyes. She clanged tighter into Zack's shirt, covering her face with his chest, hiding her tears as they fell.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	10. At Loss for Words

**Chapter 10:**

Aerith had finally calmed down after almost an hour of sobbing. Zack had tried to understand exactly why but she wouldn't give him an answer. She had seemed so heart broken and it just pained him seeing her like that but he couldn't just force her to tell him. He decided not to pressure her about it anymore and carried her out of the church; that was over an hour ago and now they were heading to their new destination, Edge. He would steal a glance at her ever now and then just to she how she was doing, but she always had that distant look in her eyes that told him that she was deep in thought over something.

"Enjoying the ride so far?" he tired to break the ice between them and lighten the mood "If you feel uncomfortable don't be afraid to tell me k?" he mustered the cheerful personality he was known for but the only response he got from her was a weak nodded, and that just increased his concern over her even more. Maybe he should start a conversation? They still had a long way ahead of them till they reach their destination "So… how is the flower selling business going? I heard that the cart lost a wheel" he tired to sound as natural as he could "I probably should have tightened the screw harder. But don't you worry, If you still want one then I'll build you a better and stronger cart then the old one" he turned his gaze to her and grinned "So what do you say?" he patiently waited her reply "I'll think about it" She finally responded, but it sounded forced and sad unlike how she would usually reply. He then saw her rest her head on his shoulder and look away from him, he could no longer see her face and frowned. She might be tired he thought so he didn't continue, instead leaned his head to hers and kissed her head "Rest easy Aerith, I'll to Edge in no time" he whispered to her before facing forward. Her free flowing hair, caught by the wind, flew in front of him blocking his view. He snickered at this crazy turn of events and decided to get her a new hair ribbon the first chance he got.

Unbeknownst to him though, she wasn't really tired. Her mind was just filled with depressing theories of what would happen if she were to tell him of her 'condition'. Although she didn't picture him as a guy who would abandon her in her time of need, she still harbored some worry over how he would react to the news. At the moment she was at loss for words, so she diverted her attention to the changing horizon and watched as they exited the rubble and damage of Midgar to the newly constructed city of Edge.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	11. Laughter

**Chapter 11:**

In Edge, the people both young and old were all busy preparing for the night of fright, Night of the Flames. Adults were climbing ladders and such hanging scary decorations on their building and streets while the children were running around with pumpkins and scary looking moogle dolls, Their laughter and chats attracted Zack's attention a her walked the busy streets with Aerith on his back. He curiously looked over at the children's direction and observed their care free behaviors that caused a smile to appear on his face. One of the children in the group spotted Zack and Aerith and got excited for some reason, he made his way to them and pulled on Zack's pants "Hey mister! Where did you get the cool costume from?" the kid asked eagerly as Zack stared at him puzzled "costume?" "Yeah, The SOLIDER costume your wearing" their exchanged attracted the attention of the other children around them, all waiting for him to answer them.

He felt cornered like a chocobo in a ranch on riding season with everyone wanted that particular chocobo to ride at once. Thinking fast he came up with an easy solution to the mess he was in "Sorry Kids but the store where I bought this costume from is sold out and I don't know any other store that sells them" he acted as natural as possible cause if he acted otherwise the kids would quickly pick up on the lie, an experience he learned from dealing with a certain kid from Wutai long ago. Lucky for him, the kids believed his little white lie and dispersed to continue what they were doing before. "Oh good, they took the bait… maybe we should get a different set of clothes" he spoke to no one in particular and made his way to what he believed was a market place.

Before entering the store, he placed Aerith down on a bench right next to the store he was going to enter to rest. He gave her a quick peck on her forehead before whispering in her ear "I'll be right back" he moved the strands of loose hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear then made his way to the store. After he left Aerith opened her eyes and looked around, she had pretended to be asleep since they entered the city to give herself time to think. When she was sure that the coast was clear she lets her giggles loose, the event that happened a few minutes ago with Zack and the kids was just too priceless to miss. She was surprised at how she was able to hold in her laughter back then and not get exposed. This sudden change of event had completely removed all her worries of Zack leaving her for her silly little disability. Sure she was worried about how he would react but she can't assume the worst without actually trying first. Besides he was too kind hearted to pull off a heartless act, she has to have more faith in him.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	12. In Question

**Chapter 12:**

Marlene and Denzel happened to be in the market place, they were helping Tifa by gathering the supplies for some party at the bar. Both of them were in possession of bags filled with decoration and food. While the boy was busy looking over the list that he had, Marlene's eyes wandered the district, observing the stores and people around them. She kept throwing her gaze about at nothing in particular till they rested on a beautiful looking woman with long brown hair in an odd uniform sitting on a bench. The uniform reminded her of the one Cloud used to wear when she first met him but in a dark shade of purple rather than navy blue like his. She stopped dead in her tracks as she continued to look over at the odd woman, leaving the ever so busy Denzel with his long list to walk forward without her. The woman in question flexed her head upwards and gathered her long hair in one hand while looking over the bench for something. Marlene's eyes widen after realizing the striking resemblance the woman had with the flower girl that used to tag along with her father and his friends, they both had that unmistakable vivid green eyes that symbolized the life stream in some way. She had to know who the woman was now so she slowly made her way to where the woman sat.

The woman was still searching for something on the bench, that's when Marlene came to the conclusion that she may have lost her hair band. She took off her bracelet "Here you go ma'am" she offered it to the familiar looking woman in a polite manner "Why thank you Marlene" The woman replied just as polite, taking the little girl's offering and using it like a hair band to keep her hair up in a ponytail. Marlene was already in shock after getting a closer look at the woman but the fact that she also knew her name was another surprise to her, it only confirmed her suspicion "Are you…her?" "Whom do you mean by 'her'?" The women replied playfully to her vague question. The shock made her lips feel heavy and dry as she tried to clear her previous question "Are you… Aerith?" there she finally said it, all that's left was to wait for the answer. The woman in question placed a hand on her chin and tilted it to the side, acting like she was thinking "hmm Aerith… did you mean the girl that used to sell flowers in Midgar? And had a pretty pink bow on her head like yours?" she playfully pointed at Marlene's hair piece and smiled warmly to her, to which Marlene just nodded eagerly for her final answer "y-yes!" "Then yes, I am Aerith." she giggled at how eager the little girl was to find out whom she was.

Marlene was just lost at that moment; she didn't know how she should react to this new discovery. She was excited to see the woman after not seeing her for so long but she was conflicted as well as to why did she reappear now after such a lengthily time period. How was she to ask the long forgotten woman without sounding rude? Well she could do what Tifa would usually do when Cloud returned after a long delivery trip "So… where have you been?" she acted as laid back as possible looking down at her shoes while waiting for her to answer. "I was around" "Where exactly is 'around'?" She kept pressing for answers, she wasn't going to leave it at that, not today. But before the woman in question could answer, a man sporting the same uniform as her walked over to her side bags in toll.

"You girls having fun?" The man asked looking excitingly at them as he placed the bag on the bench. Although he didn't look familiar at all, the giant sword on his back did. Wasn't it the sword Cloud polished and placed in the church where the healing water was? She walked over to the man and looked over his should to the sword on his back, and indeed it was the very same one. She glared at the man with her cheeks puffed up "Why do you have Cloud's sword mister?" the tall man in front of her was in trouble now.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	13. Little Pink Ribbon

**Chapter 13:**

What was he to do now? This little girl obviously knew Cloud for some reason and that he owned the Buster sword at one point too. It would be easier to just come out and stay who he was but then what? He didn't know what she would do with that information, and he wasn't really ready to face another army if, knowing his luck, they somehow found out that he was brought back from the dead. He just wanted to blend in between the crowd rather than be the center of attention. With all his thinking he didn't realize that he stood awkwardly and that his hand was rubbing the back of his head. He was brought back to reality by Aerith's sweet giggling as she was amused by his unconscious action "Don't worry, Marlene is a friend's" he calm expression and sweet voice gave him the resolve to finally answer the angry looking girl glaring at him.

He took of his sword and left it standing on the bench next to his partner as he squatted down to Marlene's level "Hi… Marlene was it? My name's Zack Fair. I'm a friend of Cloud." he said light heartedly as he extended his hand to her hoping she would shake it but she just stared at him. This was getting awkward again maybe he should try something else? "So… nice ribbon, looks like the same one I gave Aerith back then" he pointed at her hair piece with excitement then he recalled something "By the why, Aerith where's yours? You two would look like mother and daughter with it on" he directed his attention to his partner with excitement as he realized the cute coincidence "Sorry Zack, I lost mine" Aerith Shrugged, Marlene was now stuck listening to the two grown ups chatting about a whole other subject, while he pervious question was left unanswered.

"That's too bad, do you miss it?" "Well yes, I promised to treasure it since it was my first gift from you" Aerith smiled recalling their first date, she was so young minding her own business tending to the flowers in the church when the carefree young man came crashing into her life, literally. He offered to take her on a date in exchange for saving him, such a silly excuse to ask a girl he just met out but that's what made her want him to stick around more. At the end of their odd first date he gifted her a beautiful pink ribbon for her hair. She swore to treasure it, and she had at one point, but now it was gone probably in the depth of the lake in the forgotten capital along with the white materia handed down to her from her mother "Sorry." She apologized turning her gaze down to her clapped together on her lap.

"Hey no need to get upset over it. It's the memories that are important" He added not feeling bothered by it as long as she was happy being with him, but that didn't stop him from surprising her with a new pink ribbon that he pulled out from the bag "But I don't want to see you get upset, so I got you a new one." He knew he got her the right gift when he saw the sparkle in her eyes "What me to put it on for you?" he added as he got behind her and tied it up in her ponytail like he did back then. As he finished his eyes beamed down back at the little girl, she was still waiting on his answer. "Oh sorry Marlene, what was the question again?" "Why do you have Cloud's sword?" She repeated the question; she still wanted that answer, "um, well you see… I actually own this sword, he was keeping it safe for me" He replied scratching the back of his neck, the usual action whenever he's in a pickle.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	14. Invitation

**Chapter 14: **

Marlene kept staring at the man; he didn't look like he was lying nor was he dangerous and Aerith trusted him so she should too "Why?" "Why what?" he repeated her question confused "Why were you gone for so long?" she clarified the question to him "Um… I didn't have a hand in that" he couldn't tell a little girl that he was gunned down and he pushed his hopes and dreams along with his mentor's sword on to Cloud. And that's another issue that he had to think over, Should he really show up on Cloud's doorstep just like that? He was worried that he would die on the spot thinking that he was seeing a ghost. He sighed in disappointment; he did not think this through over after all.

"Hey mister, you ok?" She waved her hand in front of his face while he finally was brought back to reality "Hu? Oh sorry, I dozed off back there" He was embarrassed obviously, She could tell but what was on his mind just now. She shouldn't ask him, it wasn't her business to though she could do something else for them "Say, if you're not busy tonight can you come over to the party?" she upright asked them, it would be good for everyone to get back together after so long. She missed seeing her father for the last few weeks, Vincent won't pick up his phone whenever Tifa called him for her, Yuffie, Reeve, Shelke, and Cid were on a mission for WRO, Red XIII was somewhere, and Cloud was coming back this afternoon. But tonight they were all finally coming together tonight for the party and having Aerith and this Man over would complete it. It would be a complete reunion, unlike the last time they got together which was because of some mad men wanting to destroy the planet.

"So could you please come tonight? Pretty please?" she begging with her cutest face that she could muster, with the biggest and saddest puppy dog eyes she could do. Aerith glanced at him with a smile on her face and nodded, assuring him that it was going to be all right. "Well, I guess we could come" he finally answered the little girl who got very excited after hearing it; she went over to them and gave them a big hug. It felt like so long since some one, other than Aerith, gave him a hug and it felt good that he was being accepted. He just hopes that it continues like this for the reminder of his new life. The little girl soon parted from them and looked away as she heard someone call out her name "Sorry, I have to leave now. See you both tonight at 7th Heaven" She waved at them and a big cheerful smile then left to join a boy who didn't look like he was related to her but they seem close.

Aerith turned her attention at him after the two kids were out of view "So, Shall we get a costume?" "We already have a costume, all we need now are wigs and a toy sword for you" he grinned, leaving her confused at what he might have planed for the party tonight "be right back Aerith" he ran back to the store for whatever reason, probably for his plan.

He later came back and sat next to her, he had a very scary grin on his face that worried her. She had seen that face on him before, it was the same one when he tricked a Turk agent making them then that it was the end of the world. Maybe she should tell him about her condition before he got lost in his scheming "Um Zack, I have something to tell you" "Really what?" good, he was out of the plotting zone that would spare Cloud and the others. She took a deep breath and stared straight in his eyes "I… I can't use my legs anymore" Zack looked confused so she should explain it more "I lost it after Sephiroth attacked me" "Wait WHAT! Sephiroth was alive? But Cloud killed him back in Nibelhiem" Of course, he doesn't remember their chat in the life stream so she has to repeat it all to him.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	15. Before the Event

**Chapter 15:**

The 7th Heaven bar was closed for the night for a private party set up by the owner. The kids were all excited and ready for the night. Marlene was dressed in a moogle outfit and hopping all around the bar excited, she was very excited for tonight probably because the gang was getting back together for the night. Denzel on the other hand wasn't as excited like she was, he acted like a mini Cloud minus the blond hair and mako infused eyes. He didn't want to dress up but in the end he decided on being a chocobo knight.

"You two all ready?" Tifa called out to the two kids, carrying bowls of candy and sweets and placed them on the bar counter.

"Tifa! Tifa! Look at me!" Marlene ran to the woman and twirled, showing off her outfit "Do I look moogle enough?" She hopped up to meet with Tifa's face to see her expression with a smile of her own.

The woman smiled back and patted her head hoping that she would calm down "Yes you do Marlene." Afterwards she turned her attention to Denzel who was playing with his game pad "what about you?"

Denzel looked up from his game when he was talked to "I'm done." He puts the game pad down on the table and walked over to the two girls. "Mandy and the others will be here soon", he added fixing his helmet since it was blocking his vision.

Tifa got down to the kid's level and pulled out a cellphone "Alright, I won't keep you long. Promise to call me if something urgent comes up, I'm on speed dial #1" She reminds them before handing the phone to Denzel since he was the oldest "ok?"

The kids replied her with a nod and smile then headed to the front door to wait for their friends so that they could all go trick or treating. Marlene stopped dead in her tracks recalling something important so she turned back and ran to Tifa "Tifa! Some friends are coming over later. Can you please let them stay till we get back?" she begged with her pleading eyes holding the woman's leg.

Tifa replied with a nod "Alright, I'll keep them here till you get back from for treat collecting" she poked the red ball that stick out of Marlene's head band with a smile. "Now get going before it gets too late" She led the little girl out to the other kids that were waiting for her. Tifa stood at the front door watching over the children as they left her view. As she was heading back inside, she heard the familiar sound of the Fenrir's motor coming her way.

Cloud soon came to her view and stopped right in front of the bar and turned off the engine. He climbed off the black bike and rolled it into the garage. She followed him, her footsteps being as light as she could, hoping to sneak up behind him. She stood near the wall as he was on the other side messing with his motorbike like always before he finally looked away from his prized bike and at her. She got off the wall and smiled at him "Welcome back home Cloud".

"It's good to be home" he returned the smile back to her "Are the kids still here?" He questioned noticing that the bar wasn't as lively as usual, there were no customers today and the laughter from the ever so energetic children was missing.

"You just missed them" She replied with a giggle, getting closer to the man who was previously a lone wolf. She stared straight into his eyes and stood on her toes to get up to his face but still not there "So it's just you and me here at the moment… All alone, Just us."

"I see" he smiled, lowering his face to get them on the same level as hers. They both exchanged a glance at each other's eyes before they got close enough for their lips to finally connect.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	16. Night of the Flames

**Chapter 16:**

'How did she convince him to get dressed in his old infantryman uniform again?' just looking at the uniform gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. He hates Shinra and wearing this is just a reminder of how arrogant he was back then, unaware of the dark background the company hid behind their employees. 'Damn you Shinra. You cost me my friends and half my sanity.' He thought before forcing himself to wear the uniform, Night of the Flames is about being the thing he hated most and facing his fear and recalling the horrors of meteor almost killing them. Though the kids don't really care about the history behind the occasion, they simply enjoy collecting the candy.

"Cloud? You done yet?" Tifa opened the door and peeked in at him. She was dressed in a cowgirl outfit that was similar to the one she had in Nibelhiem but much more covered for the sake of the kids, but mostly for Cloud's sake 'Though he did look cute when he was jealous'.

"Yeah" he gave a short answer, like always. She went over to him and fixed up the little details on his scarf and pockets "Is everyone coming to the party?" he questioned her, trying to break the silence between them.

"Yep, I finally got ahold of Vincent this morning and convinced him to come, in a custom" she continued to fix Cloud's custom then stepped back to make sure that every detail was checked. After making sure that he was ready she took the helmet off the dresser and placed it on him "There, now you're ready to go. Just don't use your sword on anyone tonight".

"If no monster attacks us then I won't" he answered but then held her in a quick embrace. She was blushing, heart racing and all, surprised by his sudden action. He got closer and closer to her face, they were just seconds away from kissing.

"Hey! Forgetting something lovebirds?" The heavy, rough voice belong to the big dark-skinned man named Barret with his robotic right arm and was dressed as a sailor man. He stood watching the two from the open door and behind him was Red XIII who had a headband with a red ball attached to it and a pair of small purple wings on his back, obviously he was dressed as a red moogle with fire on the end of his tail.

Tifa and Cloud quickly parted; both their faces were red from embarrassment. "W-when? How did you two get in?" she tired to change the subject for both her and Cloud's sake.

"We did knock, but none answered. So Barret got his spare key and opened it, He said that you two might have been busy" the wolf like creature replied, "Though I did not expect this to be honest" He glanced back at the big man "Did you?"

"Hell yeah I did! This isn't the first time I caught them in the act" Barret laughed while Tifa used her hat to cover her face, Cloud lifted his scarf to cover his. Red XIII felt sorry for the two after seeing how the dark-skinned man can easily expose them at any moment.

An hour later, the rest of the guests had finally arrived. Cid and Shera were dressed as Frankenstein and his bride, Reeve as his Robotic cat while Caith was dressed as a cactuar, Yuffie as a ghost, Shelke as a chocobo, and finally Vincent dressed as a vampire, though his custom was his usual outfit with the addition of fangs. Everyone was enjoying chatting with each other while Vincent and Cloud were leaning on the wall a bit farther from the group. Everything seemed normal not including Yuffie who was being more hyper active than usual; she obviously had a lot of sugar before coming to the party.

"I hope you guys don't mind a few kids coming" Tifa mentioned, remembering Marlene's request "Marlene had invited her friends on the last minute and I couldn't say no to her" She apologized to the group for the unexpected event that might happen soon.

"It's not a problem. As long as they don't cause problems" Reeve joked and the others just nodded in agreement with his answer.

Just then there was a knock on the front door 'Probably the friends Marlene mentioned Tifa thought'. But suddenly the electricity went out and the door bursts opened and glowing green eyes floated in on them. They're eyes all widen after hearing the voice of the mad man they thought was gone "Hello… Missed me?" Sephiroth, the one winged so called 'angel'.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	17. The Nightmare Returns

**Chapter 17:**

Lightning struck outside, silhouetting the floating man with the single black wing on his right shoulder blade. Those glowing eyes mocking him, piercing through him as if looking for his fears "Hm, I wonder…" his eyes soon darted through the others in the room "I hope you didn't get rusty while I was away" He suddenly grinned widely, bringing his arm out in front. He was charging up some kind of attack and took aim at them all specifically Tifa who was behind the counter. Blinded by rage that was building up inside him, he thought 'no matter what Sephiroth wanted, he was not going to get it today or ever for that matter'. Cloud draw out his sword and quickly charged at the mad man with all his might but Sephiroth was quicker as her flew away, dodging his attack and escaping outside.

"Get back here!" Cloud yelled out as he chased after the fleeing Sephiroth. The way the mad man looked back at him was as if he was tempting him to follow, which he was doing. Sephiroth was flying overhead, he seemed to be heading to one of the construction sites that was currently abandoned for the holiday 'Why would he go there? He usually doesn't care about where he picks a fight' Cloud thought to himself as he continued chasing after him still. He didn't take notice of his friends following far behind calling to him.

Sephiroth soon stopped in the heart of the construction site, still floating far from Cloud's reach. "Having fun yet?" he asked sarcastically, looking down at the angry Cloud who was glaring back at him.

Cloud scanned around at the metal pillars and beams that were cemented to the ground as a foundation for the future building 'they look sturdy enough to climb' he thought and soon jumped up on the pillars and beams, getting closer and closer to his mortal enemy who was just floating there watching him. He got is sword out and detached a second one from it, he aimed to attack him directly and block him just incase he countered. But just as he got close enough to strike him down, another figure appearance between him and Sephiroth and blocked both his attempts. Cloud tried to strike again but the figure still blocked his attacks no matter what he did. Then they both fell to the ground on their feet, standing a fair distance away from each other.

As Cloud examined this figure in front of him, his eyes widen in surprise and shock as he realized that the man standing between him and Sephiroth, his opponent was… himself. The blond spiky hair, the SOLIDER outfit, and in his position was his best friend's Buster sword. Even the expressionless face was a splitting image of himself from three years back when he was still under the last stages of mako poisoning.

"If you don't mind, I'll sit this one out" Sephiroth broke the silence first and sat on the second beam farthest from them but still having a good view of the fight. Cloud didn't notice this at first, but there was a barrier up separating his friends from them. He can see them banging on the pale green barrier, no gun of Barret's nor are any of Vincent's transformations could brake it to give him any assistance this time around.

Cloud took a deep breath and fused his swords together into one again then focused on his copy 'I can do this; he's just a fake copy. I can take him down easily' he thought as he studied his opponent carefully. But he didn't have enough time anymore as his copy charged at him. Cloud quickly dodged the sudden attack and countered but the copy blocked it just the same. He was also able to lay a hit on Cloud's side but it wasn't fatal though. As the copy was about to slam the sword on him, Cloud took out the sword and blocked the incoming attack.

The two separated in a fair distance but came clashing back together again a few times. Neither of them willing to give up, and no matter what Cloud did the copy always countered and blocked him so he decided to using one of his limit breaks, Meteor Rain. As he was getting ready to do that, his copy beats him to it, preforming Meteor Shots, a limit break Zack learned to do from him back in his Shinra days. He didn't have time to evade it nor did his blocking help him that much so he ended up taking the hits. He was hurt but wasn't going to go down yet, so he got up and charged at his opponent again.

The sound of swords clashing echoed inside the barrier, while the other outside stood watching, unable to give any support to their friend on the other side. Tifa was worried to death about Cloud but there was nothing she could do to help him in this situation, other than hoping that he wins. She then turned her attention to the ever so silent Sephiroth who just sat on the beam watching quietly, there was something very off about him that's for sure. For one, his wing was motionless even when he was flying a moment ago, and he was shorter than usual 'His build… it's somehow resembles a girl's. And those eyes, they look familiar but not on him at all.' Now that she thought about it, weren't Sephiroth's eyes green almost cyan in color and more cat-like originally? But before she could come to a conclusion, her attention was brought back to Cloud and his opponent when the sound of the clashing swords had ended and Cloud's groans got loud. She quickly turned her sights to Cloud as he was laying on the ground in defeat, his six swords were scattered around the battlefield far away from his reach, and his copy standing over him victorious. The fake slowly lifted the Buster sword over his head then, with all his might, dropped it down towards her boyfriend. "CLOUD!" she couldn't help but yell out to him with tears streaming down her face, fearing that she was losing him.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	18. Not What they were Expecting

**Chapter 18:**

Everyone had expected a scream of pain from Cloud or, at the very least, a menacing laugh from Sephiroth. But none of that happened; instead it was the copy of Cloud that had burst out laughing like a lunatic. That didn't fit the image of Cloud that they were used to at all.

Cloud on the other hand was more focused on the giant sword that had stopped just inches away from smashing his skull in two. Only when he saw the sword move away from him did he finally relax. But then the copy extended his hand to him and Cloud looked at it confused 'is it… offering to help me? After almost trying to kill me, honestly?' he's expression changed to that of anger, slapping the offered hand away and got himself on his feet. The last thing he wanted now was help from a copy of himself.

"Oh come on Cloud, don't be like that I was just kidding" the copy laughed, his voice sounding nothing like Cloud's at all. Cloud stopped died in his tracks and turned to look back at him. His face filled with shock and confusion, as he seemed to realize who he was but didn't believe it. 'Man, he is going to freak when I let this cat out of the bag' He snickered as he reached up to his blond hair and easily pulled it fully off, revealing his raven black hair. His cocky smile never left his face, especially after seeing Cloud's facing twitching with his eyes fully wide.

"Z-Zack? B-but you were gunned down by the Shinra army three years ago" Cloud stuttered as he spoke, he still couldn't believe that his best friend was standing right in front of him. "H-How did you-"

"Honestly Cloud, I have no clue how myself. I do remember dying and handing you my sword" Zack quickly replied scratching the back of his head before adding "I woke up in a mako tank in one of labs at Shinra a few days ago. And I don't know how I got there to begin with". He then turned his attention to the group behind the barrier "Oh damn, Sorry I forgot all about you guys!" he yelled out in a panic as he detached the barrier materia from his belt which caused the barrier to finally disappear.

The group came running towards the two men and gathered around Cloud mostly. Tifa went straight into Cloud's arms "You ok?" she asked but then realized how stupid it sounded after it came out of her mouth.

Cloud simply hugged her, patting her head "I'm fine, it's just a scratch" he replied to lessen her worry over him.

Zack offered up a cure materia with a natural smile on his face "Here, you can use this to heal faster".

"Forget it! We don't need any help from SOLIDER!" Tifa yelled at Zack, still connecting him to the Nibelhiem incident.

"B-But I'm no-" Zack sighed and didn't bother to continue his sentence; he could clearly see that he wasn't wanted. "Alright, I understand. I know when I'm not wanted" he lifted up his arms to the level of his head in defeat. He slowly backed away from the group of friend who crowded Cloud. He then looked up at 'Sephiroth' and gestured for them to come down, which they nodded. The long silver haired figure flew down to Zack slowly and carefully. As soon as the figure landed in his arms they detached the fake black wing and wrapped their arms around his neck, trying to comfort him from the rejection he just faced.

The wing that fell on the ground caught the group's attention and they stared intensively at the two. Cloud walked a bit closer to Zack to get a closer look at what was going on "That's… not Sephiroth?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Nope" Zack simply replied and turned around so that they were now facing the group. The Sephiroth imposter reached out to their silver hair and pulled it off, revealing earth brown colored long hair tied up in a ponytail with a pink ribbon. "This is my girl friend Aerith" He added with a warm smile directed to the girl in his arms.

"AERITH?" the group yelled in unison, surprised at this sudden discovery.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	19. Explanations

**Chapter 19:**

They were all back in the 7th Heaven bar, Cloud and the others all crowded around Zack and Aerith on one of the bar tables. They may have been her friends but at that moment they were scaring her with how they stared at her. She clanged to Zack's shirt just incase one of decided to pounce at her.

"How did you get back to life Aerith?" Tifa questioned her old friend noticing how uncomfortable they made her feel. Though how she know Zack and get that close is beyond her, she might need to ask her in private later.

"I don't know, I woke up next to Zack so you should be asking him about it" She gestured to her boyfriend next to her. But looking at Tifa, she could tell that she didn't want to ask Zack at all.

Cloud was still staring blankly at the two friends that he though he lost years ago but now they were sitting right in front of him looking alive and well. He started questioning if this was a trick that his mind had set up because of how much he missed them. He was soon brought back to his senses when Barret slammed both his hands on the table, shaking it hard almost breaking it.

"How do we know that you two aren't some imposters and are working for Shinra?" Barret stated pointing his robotic finger at Zack in particular.

"I did say that I woke up in one of the labs at Shinra along with Aerith. But no one was there, and the reports that were scattered around reported that we were part of some failed experiment. Plus I quit Shinra along time ago, didn't Cloud tell you?" Zack looked over at Cloud with an expression that was between worry and shock. Cloud's only response was a nod to his friend last statement.

"Alright, everyone settle down" Reeve tired to keep everything under control before an innocent gets involved "now then Zack, can you explain to us exactly what happened?" he felt that if Zack explained more then maybe everyone would be at ease.

"Well, it looked like Hojo's but I needed to walk up the Shinra to get to the SOLIDER floor and get supplies" Zack started to explain in detail about what happened to him when he first woke up till he reached Aerith's church. And everyone listened very carefully to him, taking in all the detail.

After the explanation, Vincent walked over behind the group "Sounds like one of the labs Deepground used. They were probably trying to get new members that would benefit their plan, but didn't get the response they wanted" He said what he thought happened "though with incomplete reports, I can't say for sure" He continued to add before falling silent.

Shelke then got into the conversation "I could conduct an SND to retrieve the missing reports if you want, But I need to go to that lab first" her point being made everyone stared at Zack, expecting him to except the offer straight up.

"Ok, I'll take you there no problem. When do you want to go?" Zack calmly answered getting off his chair. He saw the chocobo dressed girl and the vampire looking man get up 'wait, they want to go now? Well I guess the faster we get this done the better'. He gave a smile and announced to his two companions "ok then, let's go".

"Wait Zack! I'm coming too!" Aerith called out to him, she floated towards him to follow. But as she got closer she started to fall, thankfully Zack caught her just before she got hurt.

"Whoa! How are you doing that Aerith?" Yuffie yelled out in excitement.

"Oh, I'm using a prototype float materia that I borrowed from Zack" Aerith replied to Yuffie, taking out a dark green materia that made a small crack to it's side. "looks like I've over used it though" she sounded sad as she stared at the dimly glowing sphere in her hand.

"Why do you need that for? Your done with that mean prank" Yuffie questioned her, looking confused, but Aerith didn't reply and instead looked away.

Zack took Aerith off the floor and placed her back in her seat then stared into her eyes "I'll be back this time, promise" he kissed her forehead then left with Shelke and Vincent in the direction of Midgar.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	20. Back to the Lab

**Chapter 20:**

The group was down two members and her boyfriend was gone too, now she was left alone with the others. Everything was quiet between her and her friends who haven't seen her in a long time 'how am I going to start the conversation with them?' the though stayed in her mind for a while now maybe she should start simple "So… How are you all?" that's a good way to start things off.

"Well we are adjusting better after the Deepground incident" Tifa replied as the others were exchanging glances at each other. "But one question, what's wrong with your legs?" she had noticed that Aerith avoided using her legs at all since they met at the construction site. She was either using that float materia or Zack was carrying her the entire time.

"Um… well, I can't use them anymore" Aerith said bluntly, she tried to sound ok but there was still that sad tone in her voice. Everyone stood silent feeling sorry for bring up the subject. They would like to ask her more about it but they didn't want to risk upsetting her more, and she soon noticed that and explained "Sephiroth damaged my spine when he stabbed me from the back".

"Man, that must suck being grounded and all" Yuffie pouted resting her head in her hands and placed her elbows on the table "Can't you do anything at all?"

Caith bobbed her head "Watch it little lass! You're hurting the lass's feelings!" he lectured the young ninja.

"It's ok, I'm not upset about it" Aerith smiled, hiding her sadness about the fact that she was a burden to everyone now. She had explained to Zack about her concern and as a solution he gave her the only float materia in existence on Gaia. Sure it was an experimental one, and sure she knew it was only temporary but at least he tried to make her feel independent.

"May I have a closer look at that materia you used?" Reeve politely asked her for the object, which she did. He carefully examined the dark colored sphere along with Shera and Cid.

"It's so beautiful, and the fact that there's no other materia that can cause its host to float against gravity is just incredible" Shera mentioned with Cid nodding.

"Yeah, it's going to be difficult to fix this unless we have a materia expert" he added, fixing the tooth pick in his mouth "Maybe we could make you one of those advanced wheel chairs till this one's fixed".

At the abandoned lab that Zack and Aerith woke up in days ago. Shelke had already started the SND process while Vincent and Zack looked around the lab.

"So… Vincent? Um how did you meet Cloud and the others? You don't look like a social kind of guy, no offense" Zack asked casually trying to get along with the busy looking Goth guy.

"He and the others woke me up" Vincent said, not making any eye contact with Zack at all.

Zack nodded though he didn't understand exactly how that happened. That somehow reminded him of a man that was asleep in a coffin back at the Shinra Mansion, but since he didn't take a very good look at the man, he wasn't sure if he was the same man or not.

He shrugged and looked around for some clues that he missed on his first round. Vincent was over at the ruined old office, going through all the papers that Zack read over before. As for the girl that came with them, she was over at the main computer looking like she was asleep sitting up. He had to do something other than standing still so he explored the rest of the lab. He went to the dark part of the old lab when he suddenly came to a stop after hearing the sound of some digital beeping that was a head of him.' Is it a bomb that's ready to blow?' he thought as he crept carefully towards the source of the noise. When he finally arrive to the source his expression relaxed, turns out that the beeping was coming from a portable materia fusion chamber and it looked operational too. He studied the machine a bit closer to understand its function then he carefully unplugged the device and took it with him back to his companions.

"So what's new?" Zack walked over to the young woman and strange man that seemed like they were discussing something important.

"Yes we found the project reports that were missing and it explained a lot" Shelke explained to Zack then she noticed the device in his hands "What's that you have with you?" she asked looking over at the device in his possession.

Zack simply smiled as he replied "Just something to help Aerith".

...  
Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	21. Reports

**Chapter 21:**

"Subject #1:  
Name: Zack Fair

Occupation:  
.Previously Shinra's SOLIDER agent 1st class

Found:  
.Subject was brought semi alive by Deepground member Nero after the Shinra army had left him for died on Midgar's outskirts

Previous Experimentation involvement:  
.SOLIDER – Success  
.Jenova Reunion Theory – Failure  
.Super SOLIDER Theory – Failure

Current Experiment:  
.Omega Theory

Observation:  
.the subject's previous experimentation with Jevona S cells was a complete failure but gave room for farther possibilities.  
.The subject's life force has successfully returned after a long two year wait and seemed in a stable coma like state in the mako chamber.  
.Ten days after the Jenova S cell experimentation, the subject still has immunity to it even after a lengthily period of time.  
.Left over G cells from the Jenova G project were enhanced and successfully fused with the subject, but there is still no reaction after fifteen days of wait.  
.Farther experimentation with the subject with the same experiments that were used on Deepground proved futile. The subject's previous experimentations have left no room for scientific growth.  
.Due to subject's ever so stubborn will, plans for using it as a plan C vessel was dropped.

Overall Results:  
. A complete failure and waste of time..." Shelke finally finished reading out the summarized report about the experiments done on Zack to the group that sat paying full attention to every word she said.

"Hojo didn't even give the died a break from his thirst for horrible and frightening experiments" Vincent, who was leaning on a wall far from the gathered group, added his opinion on the mad scientist's crazy ambitions.

Shelke flipped over the papers in her hand for the next report that was on Aerith "Shall I continue?" She asked, the group replied with a nod to which she continued.

"Subject #2  
Name: Aerith Gainsborough

Occupation:  
.Local Flower seller in Midgar  
.Last known Cetra

Found:  
.The subject was retrieved from the bottom of the forgotten capital's lake by Deepground member Azul. Thankfully, the subject was still fully intact, minus the damage inflicted by Sephiroth.

Previous Experimentation involvement:  
.The Promise Land Theory – Incomplete due to subject's escape  
.Breeding Theory – Incomplete due to both subjects escaping

Current Experiment:  
.Omega Theory

Observation:  
.The subject seems to be suffering from SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) due to Sephiroth's attack.  
.The subject successfully regain its life signs after two years and 28 days of wait but is in a coma like state.  
.Injections from either Jenova cells S and G proved failure due to Cetra nature.  
.Using subject's ability to establish connections to either life stream or Omega failed miserably.  
.Using subject's ability to locate the Proto materia proved failed as well.  
.Mako injections and experiments were quickly rejected due to subject's stubbornness and will.  
.Attempts to re-create remnants of the subject also failed.

Overall Results:  
.A complete failure…" Shelke ended her reading with a positive reaction from the rest of the group.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	22. Assured

**Chapter 22:**

"Heehee never thought I'd be happy to hear about myself being a failure" Zack joked easing the other's doubt on him and Aerith being imposters and putting them to rest, permanently.

Cloud was the one mostly happy about it; the joy showed in his slightly smiling face. The pair in front of him weren't fakes after all and he can finally enjoy the reunion in peace. "Glad to hear that" he finally said after a long evening of silence on his part and relaxed in his seat.

Reeve cleared his throat to get everyone's attention "Yes that is good news indeed. So maybe we could finally celebrate like this evening was intended?" he turned his attention to Tifa who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! All this running around and worrying made me thirsty" Barret added with a laugh on his end.

Tifa stood up, hands on the table and a smile across her face "Drinks are on the house!" she teased as she headed over to the back of the bar and brought back with her a try of drinks for everyone.

Vincent, who had been standing a fair distance from the group, finally joined in taking a seat next to the loud Wutai girl and took his glass from Tifa like everyone else.

The bar was now filled with happy chatter amongst the group of friends present. Most of the members were getting to know Zack a little better and about his crazy adventures escaping Shinra's army with Cloud. He also got to know the friends and their adventures to stop Sephiroth and meteor. Moments later, the chatter died down after hearing the sound of the glass chiming reached their ears, their attention now focused on Cloud who tapped his untouched glass with a small spoon. After he was sure that all eyes were on him, he stood up and lifted his glass "I'm not one for speeches and all but I have something to say" his eyes wandered around the faces of all his friends then made contact with Zack and Aerith's "I… would like to formally welcome both Zack and Aerith after years of separation and hope that you're here to stay this time" he exchanged a smile with the two before continuing "With the help of Reeve, Cid, and the WRO in general, we hope to help Aerith to recover from her injury soon. Cheers"

"CHEERS!" the whole group cheered, not including Zack and Aerith, chiming their glassed with one another in celebration.

Tifa, at one point, felt guilty for accusing Zack of his hand in the Nibelhiem incident, but in her defense his prank earlier did cause her to over react. She exchanged a glance with the Ex-SOLIDER and received a warm smile from him, assuring her that he didn't hold her to her words and gestured for her to forget it and start over. She couldn't help but smile back at him; it was hard to stay angry on that cocky 'hero' and she owes him for pulling a smile back on her anti-social boyfriend anyway.

An hour later, Tifa glanced at the clock hanging over her bar wall and frowned, it was past nine thirty and the kids weren't back yet. She dug in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone flipping it open, no text or miss calls were listed on the screen, which worried her even more. She tapped Cloud's shoulder to draw his attention to her "Cloud, they aren't back yet" she then showed him the lack of messages on her phone and he nodded.

"I'll go look for them. They probably just lost track of the time" Cloud replied quietly to Tifa, placing his half empty glass on the counter and made his way to the front door, which got Zack's attention and he followed suit.

When he got outside, he quickly caught up with his blond friend "Hey, Where are you going at this time?" Zack questioned his friend in his natural care free tone.

"Nowhere in particular, just looking for the kids" Cloud replied and after awhile received a hard pat on the back from the spiky black haired man.

"You sneaky Marlibo! How come you didn't tell me that before?" Zack sounded overly excited and patted his friend's back even harder that Cloud almost lost his balance "So are they yours and Tifa's?"

"What? NO! Are you drunk? We aren't married!" Cloud looked away hiding his blush as he carefully explained "We are only watching over them. One's Barret's and the other is an orphan I found while visiting Aerith's Church".

"Huh, so… you skipped a step and became parents directly? That's so like you Cloud" Zack teased resulting in him receiving a punch to the shoulder from his companion.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	23. Girl Talk

**Chapter 23:**

At the bar, Tifa and the girls sat at a table chatting while the guys were occupied in some contest, whatever it was Vincent was winning.

"So what did I miss while I was gone?" Aerith started the conversation in a happy tone.

Yuffie jumped at the chance to start "We met with Shelke during the Deepground incident, I'm in charge of stealth and gathering information in WRO, Cid and Shera got married, AND Tifa and Cloud are dating"

Tifa coughed on her drink unintentionally when she heard Yuffie blurt out her, should be, secret relationship with Cloud "Yuffie! How did you know that?" it was hard for her to hide her blushing face at that moment.

Shelke calmly placed her glass down on the table and answered in Yuffie's stead "It's obvious really. In addition you've been trying to hide that promise ring in your right hand ring finger ever since receiving it, Yuffie confirmed it being on your possession since before the Geostigma incident" she concluded, Yuffie in the background doing a victory pose.

Tifa's only reply to Shelke was hiding her face in her hands "That obvious? Gee, thanks for pointing that out you two" she blamed her reddened face on the drink she had.

Aerith placed a hand over her mouth hoping to hide her giggling "That doesn't surprised me the slightest" she then directed her sights to Shera "This may sound a bit late, but congratulation on your wedding".

Shera replied with a smile before Yuffie intervened again "Yeah grams! That was over a year ago! When are you going to get pregnant?" Yuffie poked her nose and stared at her.

"YUFFIE! You shouldn't be asking that!" Tifa lectured her but ninja wasn't backing down yet.

"Don't tell me that the Cranky-legged old man is all talk and no ac-"Tifa quickly stuffed a candy apple in her mouth to shut her up, which actually worked.

"You've drank too much for your own good Yuffie" Tifa complained while the other girls laughed it off. "Anyway… Aerith, how did you and Zack meet?" Tifa finally got the chance to ask that question which was on her mind ever since seeing how close she and Zack were.

"Well, I first met him in my church. He fell in from the roof when I was fifteen, and we've been seeing each other since" Aerith replied with a giggle and continued "For three years we've been dating, but then he was sent to Nibelhiem with some others and that was the last time I saw him" she casted her gaze to the glass in her hands, her smile soften "Since then I've sent him eighty nine letters for four years and he didn't reply to one. I didn't know what had happened to him, so I thought that he moved on… If I only knew the truth of the incident then maybe I won't have doubted him".

Tifa reached out her hand and held Aerith's tightly "Hey, you didn't know any better so don't blame yourself. Any girl in your place would have thought the same if their boyfriend left for that long without calling back" she smiled, trying her best to comfort her friend as best as she could.

"Yeah, you're right. Besides it's over and done with" Aerith's cheerful tone was back and her smiled reflected her resolve

"By the way Yuffie, you discussed everyone else's love life but not yours" Shera spoke, directing the attention you Yuffie who had just finished eating the candy apple.

"Hu? Oh, well I don't have one. I'm too busy saving the world and such that I don't have time for 'romance'" Yuffie brushed off the subject with that simple reply, emphasizing on the word 'romance' during her explanation.

Aerith narrowed her sights on the Wutai girl and grinned "Are you sure? Not even with a certain long hair, red eyed ex-Turk?" She knew that she was spot on with her statement when Yuffie's eyes widened and she face gradually turned red "You're not the only one who can uncover a person's private information" She giggled along with the other girls, enjoying the tormented ninja struggle to deny the statement.

...  
Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	24. Misadvent Children

**Chapter 24:**

The streets were filled with scary decorations and lanterns in every home and street corner. Children were scattered in the street collecting candy from the home owners all dressed in either scary or cute customs. Generations both young and old were laughing and having fun.

Zack and Cloud wondered the streets looking for the missing kids "Hey Cloud, what do the kids we're looking for look like?" Zack finally asked, glancing at the children that had just passed them.

"One is an 11 year old boy with shaggy light brown hair and blue eyes named Denzel. And the other one is 7 year old girl with brown hair tied up in a pink ribbon with brown eyes named Marlene" Cloud described and continued his search then he stopped, realizing that there was something missing in his description of the kids.

"Marlene? Sounds like the same girl that lead me to the bar you guys were at" Zack smiled recalling their encounter and came to understand the relation she had to Cloud and his friends. "But how do we know which kid is which? They're all dressed up and all aren't they?"

Now Cloud realized what he forgot, he forgot to ask Tifa what the kids were dressed as since he didn't see them before they left. He searched his pockets for his cell phone but them remembered that he had forgot it at the bar "Um, Zack does your cell phone still work by chance?"

Meanwhile in the eastern part of Edge, Marlene, Denzel, and their friends were still collecting candy. They were having so much fun that they didn't bother asking about the time. They all turned to a corner and spotted a man in an odd red leather jacket with black straps attacked to it, black shirt, pants and boots. His eyes were mako colored and his hair was short light brown in color. His eyes were focused on the book in his hand while sitting on the porch, probably his house the children thought as they got closer.

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return." He read out loud to none. Then he stopped as he spotted the children stand in front of him.

"Trick or treat!" the children announced with their bags ready to receive candy from him.

The man looked over to the small table beside him and spotted a bowl filled with candy. He took the bowl and gave them hand fills of candy to each child's bag silently.

"Thank you sir" the children said in unison with wide smiles.

"Excuse me children" the man called out to them "But aren't your parents worried about you?" he asked politely before adding "isn't it late after all?"

Denzel realized the meaning and quickly pulled out the cell phone from his pocket and checked the clock "Oh damn, Marlene it's almost ten!" the boy panicked.

Marlene gasped "You better call Tifa, she must be worried!" the children all headed back to the main street to get back to their homes after realizing how late it was.

As Denzel was about to call Tifa, he bumped into a man with spiky black hair and was dressed as a SOLIDER. "Ow! S-sorry mister!" he apologized as he tried to fix the helmet that blocked his vision.

"No I'm sorry kids, I wasn't paying attention" the man apologized.

Marlene got up and glanced at the man they bumped into after recognizing the voice "Mr. Zack!" She called out, getting the man's full attention.

"Marlene! I've been looking for you! Where have you been?" he lifted the girl up in his arms before remembering about the boy in the chocobo knight custom. "And you must be Denzel" he helped the boy by fixing his helmet.

"How do you know us mister?" Denzel looked up and questioned the new face.

"I'll answer that later, first we have to get back to the bar. Um could you guys help me out? I'm kind of lost after Cloud ran off leaving me here" He explained feeling embarrassed as the two kids lead him back to the 7th Heaven bar.

...  
Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	25. Back in Black

**Chapter 25:**

After the kids were back home, everyone started heading home as it got late. Barret was spending the weekend at Cloud and Tifa's to send some time with his daughter. Reeve and Shelke took the float materia and the portable materia fusion chamber with them to repair the damaged sphere for Aerith. All who were left and awake were Cloud, Tifa, Zack, and Aerith.

Aerith was cleaning the table she was seated at. Zack was putting all the furniture back in their places and was picking up the wrappers and papers on the floor. And finally, Cloud and Tifa were in the kitchen cleaning up the plates and glasses.

Zack went over behind Aerith after she was done cleaning the table she was at and lifted her up. "Next table?" He snickered placing her at the next table.

"Thanks Zack but I'm just a burden now without that materia" Aerith blurted out as she started cleaning the table. That's when she noticed Zack leaning on the table staring straight at her.

"Aerith, I told you before you aren't a burned to me" he mentioned still staring at her but in a gentle way "Trust me, you can still do stuff with or without your legs. You'll understand what I mean someday" He turned back to his chore.

Afterwards when both Zack and Aerith were done, Zack headed to the radio on the counter and turned it on listening to the different channels available. He then stopped at a channel that was playing a calm version of the waltz, that's when he had an idea to get out of their boredom. He got off his chair and headed to Aerith, extending his hand to her "May I have this dance pretty angel?" he asked her politely.

"B-but Zack I can't" Aerith was confused at his sudden gesture. But she didn't have time to answer him properly before he pulled her out of her chair. He placed his arm on her back for support, and lift her up, and her feet were on his, his free hand intertwined with hers and he stared moving to the soft melody from the radio "See, You're a great dancer. Just keep your eyes on me" He teased her as he carefully placed his fore hear on hers. She smiled back at him in delight; she enjoyed his little antic in trying to cheer her up.

In the kitchen, Cloud and Tifa looked up from the plates in wonder on where the music was coming from. They placed down their work and walked over to the door, peeking at the couple dancing just outside. "Oh that's cute. Nice of Zack to try cheering Aerith up" Tifa whispered going back into the kitchen. "Too bad they aren't living here with us."

Cloud went over to her and continued cleaning "Well then why don't we ask them to stay then?" he suggested, He really did want them around and knowing their condition, they don't have anywhere else to go to. Kind of reminds him of how he was when he arrived at Midgar after four years. "We have that empty room upstairs that we can clean up and give them".

"I know but there no bed in there. We can't let them sleep on the floor" Tifa added with a sigh.

"We'll just put in one of the beds in our room. We haven't been using it since we got together" He replied, pulling the plates in the cabinets. "I'll go up now and fix the room up for them. just try to convince them to stay, Zack could help out with the bar when I'm not around if you want" he added then heading up the stairs without the dancing couple knowing.

Tifa soon walked over to the couple after their dance was over and tried to convince them to stay. While outside standing on the tallest structure in Edge, his profile silhouetted by the full moon "To become the dew that quenches the land. To spare the sands, the seas, the skies. I offer thee this silent sacrifice" after he uttered those words a single black wing sprouted from his back and the figure flew into the night, leaving nothing but black feathers behind him.

...  
Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	26. It Begins

**Chapter 26:**

A month has passed since Zack and Aerith's return to the land of the living. Although they did accept Tifa and Cloud's offer on staying with them, it was only a temporary agreement till the two can support themselves. Zack had taken on odd jobs around the city either it was in construction, slaying creatures that came too close to Edge's borders, or being the bouncer at 7th Heaven if Cloud was out in delivery. Aerith was given a wheel chair for her normal mobility till Reeve and the others are able to fix her damaged float material or create a new one. Tifa and Cloud also gifted her a roof top garden to help her get out of her boredom when she's not down in the bar kitchen helping Tifa out. She was ok with using the wheel chair but when it came to the stairs she wasn't very happy about that but to Zack looked like he was in cloud nine, it was a chance for him to tease her. It's not that she didn't like it though; it's just that she wished that he wouldn't tease her when the kids or their friends are around.

Zack, Cloud and Denzel had fun custumizing Zack's salzaged motorbike that he found in Midgar ruins. They locked themselves up from morning to night just fix it up for Zack's use. After a week of them smelling like motor oil the bike, which was named the Garmr by Zack, was finally done and Zack's test drive involved him and Aerith driving from Edge to Gongaga to visit his parents. That was an entiertaining, especially seeing how Zack ended up doing all the chores during their stay there.

Another funny incident that happened to Zack was when he got lost in the city. That wouldn't have been a problem if his fourteen year old Shinra standared cellphone hadn't finally kicked the bucket. It had survived all kind's of terrible weather, all the conflicts, and almost seven years of a double dunking of highly concentrated mako and worked. He was lucky that he was in the same area as the kid's school so when they helped him back to the bar.

Today was just not the normal routie, Aerith and Zack were on the bar level before opening time hanging out. Zack fiddeled with his new phone while Aerith read over the instructions "How do people use this?" he complained with a sigh, still staring at the screen.

"Are you sure you don't want to read this?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Cloud said it was easy"

"Then why are you in the empty contact screen?"

"Oh, I though that was the camera"

"Why do you want the camera?"

Zack finally got the camera function to work and aimed at her and snapped a photo "Your my new wallpaper from my phone" he grinned showing her the back drop of his cellphone. He recived a playful push from Aerith as she blushed.

"Just give me your new number so that I can call you"

"Alright" Zack wrote down the number on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "I better get going, I promised to see Reeve about something" he got of the chair and kissed her forehead before he headed out. She was only sure that he left when she heard the sound of the Garmr's engine start then fade into the distance.

She soon headed to the back and fixed up the kitchen. Tifa and Cloud later came down not noticing her. They exchanged a few words, simple, but then Cloud got closer to Tifa and kissed her. He pushed her to the wall, not breaking their contact as it got deeper. They didn't part till they heard the crash of a pot on the floor and looked over into the kitchen.

Aerith waved her arms defensively "Oops! My bad!" She leaned over and picked up the pot that she had dropped by acident. "Don't mind me, please contineu like I wasn't here!".

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	27. Greetings

**Chapter 27:**

Both girls were in the bar's kitchen after the awkward moment earlier. Today though was one of those slow days where the bar was practically empty. The kids had already left for school so the girls had nothing to do other than chat with each other.

"Sorry if I ruined your alone time with Cloud before"

"It's not your fault, we should have made sure that we were alone to begin with" Tifa waved her arms defensively. And then it was silent once more.

"It's odd seeing this place empty" Aerith noted as she glanced around all the unoccipied seats and tables surrounding them.

"It's just one of those days, and it's still to early to tell"

"I guess so. Everyone is at work at this time"

"Right, come around lunch time this place would be filled with cus-" She didn't have a chance to continue her sentence after hearing bell over the door ring, signaling a customer had entered the bar. As the customer took a seat near the window the girl quickly got to their places, Tifa making her way to the seated man.

"New to these parts?"

The man looked up to her and beamed a smile "Why yes I am. I came here to... look for a friend of mine whoes living in the city" The man's piercing mako glowing eyes gave her a bit of a fright but she didn't let it show.

"So what will it be mister?"

"Please milady, call me Genesis and I would like coffee to go"

"Right... coming right up then" Tifa walked back to Aerith and started brewing the coffee beans while Aerith watched the man from behind the counter. The name was familiar but she couldn't just go and ask him what she probably thought she knew, could she? She shook her head deciding against it. Her eyes soon took notice to the book in his hand titled 'Loveless' that famous book that Midgar named a whole street after. She saw his lips move, resiting the poems collected in that thin volume with excitment as his voice was heard, barely.

"Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds. Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul. Pride is lost. Wings stripped away, the end is nigh"

'Definatly a Loveless fan' Aerith kept looking at the busy customers with curiosity. Her eyes widen in surprise after they made contact with his all a sudden. She awkwardly waved to him hoping to ease her mistake though rather than get a wave back, he closed his book and walked over to where she was. "Hmm... can I help you sir?"

"Maybe milady, hows about your name?"

"A-Aerith"

"What a lovely name. A fan of Loveless are you?"

"N-not really, My boyfriend would say a few lines every now and then"

"I see, I hope he's treating you well"

"Yes he does, he's also very protective"

"I'll do well to remember that milady" the strange man lined on the counter and moved his redish light brown hair away from his line of vision, his eyes caught her attaention and he smiled "I see you are interested in my eyes"

"You were part of SOLIDER?"

"Sharp girl, probably because your boyfriend was also part of it"

"Y-Ye-... wait, how did you know that?"

The man snickered and stood straight "I have my sources"

Tifa soon came out from the kitchen with the hot coffee and placed it on the counter in front of the odd man "Order up".

The man took the cup and handed her the gils before making his way to the door. He stopped half way and looked over to Aerith one last time "Even if the morrow is barren with promises. Nothing shall fore stall my return. It was nice meeting you girls". He turned his back and waved to them before walking out of their view.

Tifa placed her hands on her hips looking at the door ask it closed shut "What a weirdo..."

Aerith just sat there quietly, her sights still at the door even after Tifa headed back to the kitchen.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	28. Old Friends

**Chapter 28:**

At the WRO base in Edge, Zack entered the large building like he's done a day before. He was still not used to the base as he had lost his way to Reeve's office again 'This place on it's own needs a map get to the where people needs to go' he held the bridge of his nose and lifted his head up sighing. Lucky for him one of the WRO Soliders was in the hall with papers in hand. Zack went over to the Solider and tapped his shoulder "Hey mister, can you direct me to you're boss' office?"

"Uh? Oh yeah... first door at the end of the hallway"

"Ok, thanks"

Zack patted on the busy solider's back hard enough that caused the guy's helmet to fall off easily. The man was so surprised that he dropped all his papers and stood in shock for some odd reason, looking down on the scattered papers on the floor. The man turned and stared at Zack surprised "H-how were you able to do that with ease?!"

"Eh?"

"No one could move me before- wait a sec"

The man leaned forward to Zack, staring at him with extrem focus. His eyes got wide and he stood back and glanced between Zack and the papers on the floor "Y-your SOLIDER first class Zack Fair?!"

"Um... well yes"

"D-do you remember me?"

It was Zack's turn to stare at the man in front of him. He had mako eyes so that meant he was in the SOLIDER like he was and his messy short dark brown hair wasn't very familiar. Though there was something oddly familiar in some way. "Um... are you Luxiere?"

The man's jaw dropped and fisted his hands with anger. He then punched Zack hard making him fall over to the floor "Of all the people you remember, you remember a traitor?!"

"I'm Kidding Kunsel!"

"Why didn't you say that first?" Kunsel placed a hand on his face trying to reduce his anger and stress. After calming down he helped Zack off the floor "So, where were you hiding? Presuming that you were hiding... I lost contact with you a month before the mako reactor bombing and the rest of that"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you after I see Reeve for something"

"Right. By the way, about Aerith..."

"Oh she's fine, she has SCI but I'm trying to help her"

"But how? She was reported died three years ago Zack"

"So was I Kunsel, but apperantly someone wanted us alive for their crazy experiments... I'll go through the details later buddy" Zack patted Kunsel's shoulder and made his way to Reeve's office that was across the hall like Kunsel directed him.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	29. To Business

**Chapter 28: **

Zack final reached the director's office and carefully knocked on the door but he received no reply. He knocked again but still received no reply so he opened the door and peeked in through the small opening, spotting Reeve engrossed in his paper work "Hello, am I interrupting you?"

Reeve looked up from his work startled at the sudden guest standing at his office entrance "Oh sorry there Zack I didn't hear you, Come in" He gestured his guest to come in to the office and take a seat in front of his desk.

"It's fine mister director, so how goes the materia fusion?"

"Sorry, still no results on that one. We've tried every materia in over inventory to try reproducing the float materia. As for the one you original handed us, we didn't want to lose it in the fusion process so it's still in containment"

"It's alright, it was hard to create in the first place. By the way, why aren't people using materia that much anymore?"

"Well, after the meteor incident everyone agreed that the planet needed a lot of energy to repair the damage from it so the less materia used the more energy the planet can use"

"Well that makes sense. Say, are Aerith and me still wanted by Shinra?"

"Shinra is composed of Rufus and four of his Turks who are trying to correct what they did wrong, and besides if they chase after you two they'll have to get through Cloud and the entire WRO army"

Zack sighed in relief leaning back on his chair "Yeah, thanks for reassuring me Reeve"

Just then Shelke walked into the office, attracting both men's attention "I've found some things that you both need to see."

On the road to Junon, Cloud was on his way to the village outside of Junon to deliver a package. To him this was just another normal delivery day, the wide empty road, the wing in his hair, the sound of the Fenrir's engine, and the flies bouncing off his glasses, he could do without that last one. But suddenly black feathers started falling into his view from above 'A bird? No, the feathers looked too big. Probably a Garuda aiming to attack' but they don't usually aim at someone riding a vehicle. In any case, he wasn't going to take any chances and pulled out the lightest sword he had and searched for the source of the falling feathers.

He finally found the annoying target but it wasn't a Garuda, though it wasn't clear whom or what it was, just a small moving black dot up in the blue sky. When he focused though the black dot was actually two ramming each other. Although they were busy with each other he didn't put back the sword, just incase they decided to gang up on him later.

His eyes kept following the dots in the sky till he sensed something dangerous ahead of him. So he directed his view back to the road spotting a Behemoth crossing 'Why in Gaia would a Behemoth cross the road?' Cloud placed the sword in its place and steered away from the giant beast, barely avoiding its swinging tail by a hair. 'That was close' Cloud sighed but as he turned to face the road a sharp long sword came in very close contact with his right cheek, leaving a light scratch in its place. Because of the sudden shock he felt his grip on the bike loosened and the Fenrir slide fell to the pavement sliding on one side. He was thrown out of the vehicle and tumbled on the hard ground cracking some of his bones. Most of the pain came from his leg where the bike crashed on it a seconds ago. As he opened his eyes and took off his shattered glasses his blurry gaze was greeted by two tall figures fighting each other. He couldn't make out who they were but one of them had a somewhat black shape behind him. The figures also have glowing objects with them 'materia?' But Cloud couldn't stay awake to confirm that and slowly everything turned black.

"Cloud's not answering his phone" Tifa complained, putting her cell phone away in her pocket. He had promised to call her at 9 o'clock Edge time but it's been two hours since the suggested time, nothing yet. The bar was in its final hour so only the regulars were around for the final round. Aerith rolled her chair next to Tifa and watched her express her worried silently "I should focus on work now, Cloud may call later when he remembers. He can handle himself if he was in trouble" She added and walked around the bar helping out the customers.

Aerith on the other hand kept staring at her as she made her rounds. Tifa was worried about Cloud but she was right, He can handle himself. With that thought out of the way, she went straight back to cooking. She no longer thinking of Cloud but of Zack, as he still hadn't contacted her since she last saw him in the morning. She carefully pulled out her cellphone and dialed his number, she then carefully perched the phone between her ear and shoulder while continuing to cook.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	30. News

**Chapter 30: **

"Hellooo~" Aerith's cheerful voice started the conversation.

"Hi Aerith, missing me already?" Zack snickered, he was standing in the hallway just outside the lab he, Reeve and Shelke were in before his girlfriend called.

"Maybe~ I wanted to make sure that you're coming back this time"

"Still holding the Nibelhiem thing on me?"

"You did promise to call me back" He could hear her soft sweet giggles on the other side of the line. He scratched the back of his head, she knows how to catch him off guard like always.

"Sorry about that, I was busy with the Sephiroth thing. By the way, I have good news for you."

"'Good' as in actually good or 'good' as in not so much?"

"I promise it's actually good. So… Wanna hear it?"

"Um… Ok tell me"

'good, she sounds excited' Zack thought, he took a deep breath and relaxed his stance "Ok, Aerith… Reeve and I have been all over the place lately, and we finally found a doctor who can help you"

"Help me? How?"

"He can help you get back on your feet, literally"

Silence filled Aerith's side of the line. He waited for the idea to sink in but she was quiet for a long time. He held the bridge of his nose and lifted his head up "Aerith? Is everything ok?"

"Oh, yeah… You weren't making it up right?"

"Make what up?"

"Zack!"

"I'm kidding! But I was serious about the doctor though"

"That's wonderful, is he in Edge?"

"Yeeeeaaaahhh, no… He lives in the Mideel area"

"There? But the village…"

"It's a new village that was built afterwards, I'm heading there soon to ask for his help you"

"So you'll be gone for long?"

"Probably, Cid is coming soon to give me a ride"

"I see, anything else you want to tell me?"

"Well, no nothing else to report general"

Aerith giggled at his comment, although she felt that he was hiding something but she wasn't going to push him for answers "Alright then, good luck."

"Thanks, I'll call you soon"

He hung up and sighed; sliding down the wall he was leaning on. Sating on the floor staring at the phone in his hand lost in thought. His eyes were glued to his phone's backdrop on his beloved girl friend. 'That's one news I gave her but I can't tell her the rest that Shelke found' he sighed again letting his hung down on his knees. Shelke had discovered that someone was using the Deepground's network, other than that some of the Deepground soldiers that were in captivity had escaped and were never found. This day was getting from good to worst all a sudden.

"The Deepground thing bothering you?" Zack looked up to see Reeve standing over him all a sudden.

"Sorry Reeve, I'm just worried"

"It's only natural, let's go though before Cid gets cranky"

"Yeah" Zack got off the floor and followed after Reeve to the hanger.

Cloud Finally woke up from his long sleep, feeling something wet and cold on his face. His eyes flattered open and his view was greeted with a behemoth cub licking his face and the whole scenery dark 'Right, I'm in a behemoth infested area… just great' he slowly sat up and looked over his leg. It looked like it healed over the course of his sleep so that's good. He got up and carefully walked around the cub heading over to his bike to get away from the area. The Fenrir was still in good shape and nothing from his stuff was taken with was confusing, why knock him out and not take anything at all. He quickly got on the bike and drove off away from the area; he wasn't fit to fight a fully-grown behemoth now so he needed to leave. Now that he was away from danger his mind was free to think about the figures he encounter earlier. They weren't familiar to him but the black wing like thing reminded him of Sephiroth. It's impossible unless they were his remnants 'No! Not remnants! But then… who are they?'.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	31. Hello Again

**Chapter 31: **

Of all his past years being part of Shinra, he admits that he never once rode the airships back at Junon. He had a tour of one sure but he never actually got on one and soared the sky. He leaned forward on the rails and stared straight down at the fast changing scenery below. This probably isn't a good idea though since he was on the open deck but the wind blowing in his face felt so good he just couldn't help but be dangerously on that spot. He was enjoying it so far, till the speakers almost made his ears bleed from the extra volume.

"Are you nuts kid?! Get your $&(% away from the $#% rail already!"

The grumpy captain yelled through the speakers at the happy Ex-SOLIDER on the open deck for the fifth time. Zack had a felling that if he didn't do as Cid said then he might find himself a mako puddle on the cold hard ground below so he slowly backed away from the railings.

"Good choice"

That simple sentence belonged to none other that Vincent Valentine who was leaning on the wall next to the entrance with his eyes closed. To Zack, he was either in deep thought on a topic or that he was asleep standing up. Against his curious nature, he decided not to test that theory seeing he has Aerith waiting for him back at home. He turned his attention back at the changing scenery occupying his mind with the recent discovery of the Deepground group. He read about what they were and what their goal was with the addition of the experiments done on both him and Aerith.

"You really shouldn't think to hard on it"

"Hu? On what?"

"Deepground"

"…And how did you figure that I was?"

"It's obvious really"

"I see. Well if you say so"

Zack shrugged his shoulders and lifted his head up to relax. But then he remembered a valid point that he needed to ask to his gloomy friend.

"Say… Why did you tag along? You have some business there too?"

Vincent didn't reply and instead opened his eyes to stare at him. Zack saw it as a threat and waved his hands defensively towards the red eyes man.

"Easy there! Forget I asked"

Vincent uncrossed his arms and stood straight and made his way next to Zack but his gaze looking at the scenery. Since he said nothing Zack took it as an ok and relaxed.

"I need to go inside and check on some data Reeve gave me"

Zack smiled and waited to hear a reply from his quiet partner but got nothing. He shrugged his shoulders again then walked inside the airship. Vincent on the other hand stood rooted to his spot and his eyes glued to the view.

"Deepground… is my problem to worry about, not yours Zack"

At the city of Edge, it was late at night and Aerith was on the roof of the bar looking up at the starry sky. Tifa had helped her get up here before going back inside to tuck the kids in. Staring up at the night sky and all its glittering stars made her feel calm and happy. It was funny how she first thought of it as scary and that it was going to swallow her but meeting Zack made her realized how silly it was. In fact, she changed so much thanks to his optimism. She was suddenly startled from the vibration of her phone on her lap. Her gaze shifted down to the device as she picked it up in her hands. She just received a text message from Zack and giggled at the coincidence.

"Hi Aerith, doing ok? We finally reached the new Mideel village buuuuttt… the clinic is closed at this hour. We'll have to spend the night but we'll be back in good old Edge tomorrow. So don't wait up for me"

Another giggled escaped her as she read over the text with a smile. She was relieved to hear that everything thing was ok on his end, but was also a bit sad that he wasn't going to be with her tonight. She thought for a moment, then lets her fingers glide over the buttons typing her reply carefully as to avoid typos.

"I'm fine, a bit lonely now that everyone's asleep. In fact, I'm stuck on the roof with no way down but at least my flowers are keeping me company. So I have no option but to wait for you to get back Zack"

"Wait what?! They just left you on the roof at this hour? What was Cloud thinking? D8"

"Cloud's out on a delivery round, it's not his choice"

"What about Tifa? Don't tell me she left you there on purpose!"

She couldn't keep her laughing under wraps any longer at his replies to her little white lies and simply lets it out. If she wasn't careful Zack may force Cid to fly him back to Edge, which he would do since he's such a determined kind of guy.

"Take it easy Zack, she just left to put the kids to bed for school tomorrow. She'll come up to help me down afterwards so don't worry so much about me"

"You almost gave me a heart attack Aerith X( and I was half way to Cid's cabin too"

She knew that he was, he is predictable most of the time but she loves him anyway.

"Sorry but I couldn't help it X3"

"Aha, just promise me to take it easy will you"

"I will… 'Dad' XP"

"Aerith 8 ("

"Sorry again XD don't worry so much Zack, I'll be fine. Good night and call me tomorrow, I want to know what happens K?"

"It's a date! Good night Angel 3"

Same old Zack indeed, and she won't want him to be any different. She placed the phone back on her lap and rolled her wheel chair over to the flowerbed. They had just began to sprout and soon her tiny garden may end up better than the ones back in Midgar. This was truly the only thing at the moment that made her feel 'normal', she didn't need someone to carry her nor reach something far out her reach, she only needed herself to tend to this fruit barring task. Her train of thoughts were soon interrupted though by the whispers of the planet warning her of approaching danger. She lifted her gaze from the tiny garden and looked around the roof she was at but nothing seemed off to her. That thought was soon dismissed after a large black feather gently fell into her view and rested on the soil of the garden.

"Oh my… what brings a fair young maiden such as yourself out and about on such a dark and frightful hour?"

That voice, it belonged to that strange man that came to the bar in the early morning. It was followed by the light sound of heavy boots making contact with the roof's floor behind her along with a gentle gust of wind on her back. At that moment she felt conflicted, his sudden appearance could only mean that he is up to no good but his aura said other wise. Should she call for help? Or should she fight back with her foldable rod? She couldn't make a clear decision at this point but the more she read off his aura the more she believed that there was no need for her to take unnecessary actions towards the man behind her. After taking a deep breath she turned her chair around to face him with a strong front.

"Can I help you with something… Mister Genesis?"

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	32. Calm and Loud

**Chapter 32: **

Zack and his team finally reached the Mideel village and checked into one of the Inns for the night. He and Vincent were sharing a room that decision came from the name draw, while Cid was sharing with a crewmember. He had been in bed for almost an hour, he was texting Aerith a while ago but now he just couldn't sleep. His roommate, Vincent, was asleep like a corpse on his own bed. He wasn't sure if he was alive over there, till Vincent's phone rang. The longhaired man simply opened his eyes and made no effort in looking over to the source of the noise. Speaking of ringing, for a scary looking guy he never imagined that his ringtone would be 'Call Me Maybe'.

Vincent, after a while of ignoring the phone, finally reached over to his cell phone on the nightstand and glanced at the screen. Realizing who was calling him at such an hour he groaned and answered the phone, placing it to his ear.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Do YOU know how pissed I am?!"

"Apparently not"

He answered his caller as calmly as he could without sounding like he just woke up. The person on the other end wasn't clam at all but Zack couldn't hear the conversation at all.

"You promised to come with me on the Midgar mission tonight!"

"Something came up at the last minute and I had to go with Cid and Zack on another investigation. I promise to make it up to you when I get back."

"Don't try to bribe me with materia Mr. Valentine! It won't work this time!"

"Really? Even if it was a very rare one?"

"… How rare are we talking abo- HEY!"

"I'll get you a souvenir from Mideel, just don't lost your partner this time"

"It wasn't my fault that the trooper was slow. ANYWAY! You better get me something valuable, nothing cheap mister!"

"Deal, now will you please let me sleep?"

"Alright already, sheesh… Sorry for checking on my BF on such an hour"

"You better not be somewhere public"

"Pfft, as if! Forgetting that I'm a Pro already?"

"Of getting caught"

"HEY!"

"I'm kidding"

"HUMP! Some 'good night' that was. How are you a 'Valentine' again?"

"Good night"

He finally hung up his call and turned it on silent to avoid hearing the ringing again. After he placed the phone on his nightstand he sat up and started at the ceiling 'She needs to grow up some time soon'. His attention was then diverted to the sound of the familiar heavy footsteps crossing the room.

"Where are you going?"

He lowered his gaze from the ceiling to stare at Zack who had his hand on the doorknob and in full gear, save for the buster sword that was still leaned on Zack's bed board.

"Me? Just going out for some air"

Vincent sighed as he too got off his own bed and puts on his own gear and clothes.

"Then take that with you. The monsters close by have mutated from the mako lake in the area"

He gestured to the large bulky sword before he took the lead out of the room.

At the WRO base, Yuffie kicked over an empty bucket after her call with Vincent ended. She huffed out loudly; blowing away the bangs that fell over her face.

"Oh! That-that bloodsucker! This ain't over, not by a long shot!"

After calming herself down a bit, she placed her phone in her short pocket and picked up the bucket that she just kicked and took it with her out of the janitor's closet. The hall was empty of it's usual occupants since it was late, which was what she wanted. She then took out one of her Bo Shuriken's and used it like a drum stick on the bucket making a loud enough noise to get a current robotic cat's, and everyone else's, attention.

"CAITH! COME OUT COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE! WE HAVE A MISSION TO DO!"

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	33. Gone with the Wind

**Chapter 33: **

Tifa quietly walked out of the children's bedroom after a hour of chatting an story telling, the kids finally gave in to sleep at almost 12 o'clock. This was usually what they would do to avoid getting to sleep in most days but they always gave in at about the same time every night. She should try getting to sleep earlier than that though, she didn't want them to be tried and sleepy at school. She slowly closed the door behind her, leaving a small creak for if one of them got up later, then quietly made her way towards the staircase leading to the roof where she left Aerith almost hours ago.

On her way there, she pulled out her cell phone to check on her messages. There was the usual stack from Reeve on the happenings at the WRO that she needed to know, like the recent Deepground network being used, and also some messages from Yuffie. Yuffie's messages used to be childish and silly at the beginning but recently she actually started receiving useful information from the silly ninja. The years may have finally had their toll on her but maybe there was also another factor at play here? Either way She was glade that the Wutai girl was finally showing some maturity although she still acted childish in some cases.

After going through all her inbox, she sighed sadly that none of them had been from Cloud. But before she could store her phone back in her pocket, it vibrated indicating that a new message had just arrived. She quickly brought the phone back to her eyes level and stopped to place all her attention to the phone screen. Finally the message she was waiting for all day had arrived.

"Hi Tifa, Sorry I'm late in contacting you. Are you asleep yet?"

Of course she wasn't! She was ready to stay up all night waiting for him to text her. But before she could reply, she had to arrange her thoughts in order not to give him the wrong message and then regret it later.

"Hi. Don't worry about it; you were probably occupied with something important. And no I wasn't asleep, I had just finished putting the kids to bed though"

"Really? Shouldn't they have been asleep hours ago?"

"They tired to stay up awake long enough for either you or Zack to get home"

"Zack isn't back yet?"

"No, Aerith told me that he left for Mideel with Cid to find a doctor that could help her"

"Uhu, if it wasn't that then Zack would have been out this late"

"I can agree to that"

She paused typing her next text a to wonder if she should ask him about his trip. Whenever she did however he would just reply that it was dusty or the 'usual'. Maybe she needed to ask him something else then? But before she could think of one, Cloud texted her back a reply.

"So anything weird happen today?"

That was an odd way for him to ask her about her day. And even odder that he asked her in the first place since he knew how the bar usually was like. But there was something different today that's for sure.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, though there was this new customer that came by early in the morning after you and Zack left"

"How 'weird' are we talking about?"

"Well, he had mako infused eyes like you and Zack do and he was reciting Loveless. He even tired to flirt with Aerith"

"You should avoid telling Zack that last bit. As for the mako infused eyes, he was probably an Ex-SOLIDER like Zack"

"That's what I thought too. BTW, you don't usually ask me this. Has something happened?"

"You cloud say that, but it's probably my mind playing tricks on me"

"How so?"

"Well, I thought I saw someone with a large black wing on my way to Junon"

"… Cloud, I think Zack's prank of Night of the Flames did a number on your brain"

"Maybe… but I know that I didn't imagine two people fighting and using materia"

"I see, maybe we could discuss this more when you get home?"

"Ok. If I'm not delayed then I'll probably be home same time tomorrow night"

"Then I'll be waiting for you"

"I'd prefer for you to sleep if I were late Tifa"

"Not on your life ;p I already miss you so much"

"Me too. Godd night for now, you have a busy day tomorrow"

"You too Cloud, stay warm"

She smiled as her last text message for the night got sent to Cloud. She had to admit that this was much better then not hearing from him at all, it made her happy to know that he changed for the better. Flipping her phone closed she tucked it in her pocket before continuing her way to the roof to finally help Aerith get down. Though Aerith may have not minded her tardiness seeing how much she get absorbed in tending to her tiny garden. In fact, if no one was checking up on her every now and then she may have continued working on that garden till she passed out.

Tifa carefully opened the roof door to avoid the kids hearing the annoying creaking sound it usually made. The sight that greeted her as soon as the door was open made her freeze on the spot, the smile that was on her face a while ago vanished completely. Shock took over and her widened eyes darted around the roof taking in the sight. Her wheel chair was left near the tiny garden unattended and Aerith was nowhere to be found. Upon closer inspection she found that the folded rod was also missing and the roof had large black feathers scattered about. Maybe She shouldn't have dismissed that thought Cloud had mention about the figure with a large black wing so easily.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	34. Stealth Mission

**Chapter 34:**

The mission was to searched the old Deepground base for the active computer using the network. Since the deepground network was a seperate network on it's own, they needed someone to find the computer and collect information. Yuffie hadn't been in Deepground's base since the incident a long time ago but instead of Vincent, she had Caith tag along on this mission. At least he was quiet and keeping up with her pace as she hopped and sprinted through the halls.

"Lass! Slow down already! I haven't been in action for a while now!"

So much for quiet, she sighed as she slowed her pace to allow the mech cat to catch up with her. The place was abandoned and in ruins who would anyone be here was beyond her comprehention. She soon came to a stop at a hall that lead to either left or right. She may have not been in any rush but she would hate to waste her time looking in places that weren't important. Plus, she wasn't in the mood to do a full sweep.

"Ok Caith, Connect me to Shelke"

"Roger that lass"

Caith stood still behind her and soon his voice was replaced with Shelke's.

"Shelke here, what seems to be the problem Yuffie?"

"I'm at a fork in the road and I was wondering if you had the map of the building to make my job easier"

"Alright, give me a minute to look for it through my system"

Yuffie waited inpatiently for Shelke's responce. Her foot tapped rapidly on the dusty floor while staring intensively at Caith hoping he would hurry up.

"Stop staring at me lass, It's very uncomfortable for me"

"Sheesh, sorry but I hate waiting"

"Well staring at me won't get the lass to work faster"

"Fine"

Yuffie sighed and averted her sights from Caith and looked around the hall they were in. Spiders crawling everywhere and everything was covered in dust, she would have sneezed if the dust were to suddenly scatter around her. Other than that, there were rocks adnd cables spread across the floor and cieling. Vincent did a number on the place when he was running around and blasting Deepground soliders she guessed. But he could have made less damage on the place so that she could get through it without any trouble.

"Shelke here again, I have uploaded the map in Caith's memory banks so he would be your guide. And be careful from now on you two, there seems to be an energy spike on the left so some one might be there"

"Hey, this is the Wutai's White Rose your talking to! I haven't been caught yet!"

"Actually lassy there was that one time you wer-"

"That does NOT count"

Yuffie glared at him menecingly which made him jerk away from her in fear, waving his arms defensively infront of him.

"E-easy lassy!"

"Anyway... Just be careful you two"

"Copy that glowy sticks"

"... Stop calling me that Yuffie"

"Okie dokie flat chest"

Shelke sighed before finally hunging up on Yuffie, she really didn't want to discuss this subject at that moment. Maybe later when she got back to base and they were alone.

Yuffie and Caith continued down the left hallway quickly but quietly. They later reached a sealed metal door blocking their path.

"Now what lassy?"

"Oh this is just easy"

looking up she spotted a vent that was big enough to fit them both. She then pulled out her Kaginawa and twirled it over her head then throw it upwards where it hooked on the vent's cover. After yanking the cover off she grabbed Caith and jumped up and into the shaft. Caith grabbed on to Yuffie's back leading her while she did all the crawling. During her crawl she spotted some soliders patroling the halls and rooms that they pass, all of which were the escapee Deepground members that were held captive by the WRO.

"Lass, those are all the presioners we had. What do you think they are doing back here for?"

"I have no idea fur ball. Hm?"

Yuffie spotted a familiar old man in a white lab coat walking down the hall. He was bold on top and had black hair tied in a ponytail. For some odd reason, he reminded her of Hojo but he was dead she was sure of that. And since she couldn't see his face from where she was she dismissed the idea and continued her way to the computer room.

They soon reached the room they desired and just they're luck, it was empty. Yuffie carefully opened the shaft lip and dropped down to the floor. Caith jumped off her back and went over to the door and hacked the door panel to prevent any interuptions. He then joined her at the main computer and hacked away at it.

"They didn't renew the passcode"

"They're probably lazy"

"Or they didn't think anyone would come and hack their system"

Caith's tail revealed a flash head and inserted it into the computer's slot and began the download the files from the network. Yuffie on the other hand pulled out her cell phone and imediatly called Reeve to report.

"Reeve, Yuffie here. We're successfully reached the cmputer room and Caith's downloading the data as we speak"

"Good job, what else did you find?"

"We've spotted most of the escapees on the way here protecting this secret section of the base. And there was this familiar looking old man in a lab coat too but I couldn't see his face sorry"

"I see lets hope that they aren't after Omega again"

"I dont think that's possible since Chaos is back in the planet and the proto materia is lo-"

Yuffie's eyes were attracted to the monitor that displayed some odd file with a picture of a young three or four year old girl attached. Her facial features were similar to Aerith's but with black hair and one mako colored eye while the other was green. Under the image was a large block of text that Yuffie had no interest in reading through but there were some words that caught her attention 'Lab grown Cetra half breed'.

"Yuffie? Still there?"

"Hold up big boss"

Before she could go back to read the text that she ignored the alarm went off and the screens shut off. She quickly hung up on Reeve and turned her sights on Caith who was in a state of panic.

"S-sorry lass! The last file I was trying to download had an alarm trigger!"

"So you blow our cover?!"

The sound of heavy metal objects hitting the door alerting them of the danger they were in, and she could tell that the door won't hold up any longer. Yuffie quickly grabbed Caith and went over to the open vent. She could hear the multiple voices of the angry soliders behind the door but her priority now was to escape and fast. She swiftly jumped up into the vent and closed it behind her hopping to throw them off just enough for her and Caith to escape. Just as she left, the door finally bursts open and the soliders rush in looking for the intrudder but fround no one. Behind them came a tall man with a muscular build, spikey white hair covering most of his face, and his eyes are blue with yellow rings around the pupiles.

"Sir, The intrudder vanished"

"Keep searching, they couldn't have gone far. And make sure that 'She' is not discovered by our 'guest'".

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	35. Innocent's Escape

**Chapter 35: **

The escape plan was going perfectly, all she needed to do was keep crawling back to the shaft she entered from. But as she got closer, she started hearing the solider's voices getting louder which could only mean that their escape rountie was now their death reception.

"What now lass?"

"Sheesh! Let be think"

"We're doomed!"

"Seriously shut it fur ball!"

She didn't have time to argue with him right now, they needed to escape first. Sadly, without a map she couldn't navigate out of the vents 'wait, I don't have one but Cait has it in memory'.

"Hey Cait, you still have that map in your memory right?"

"Uh, yeah"

"Then tell me where does this lead?"

She directed his veiw to the shaft opening on her right. Cait sat silently accessed the map in his memory and pinpointed their location then quickly calculated.

"Um, it seems to lead to one of the old sections of this building. At the far end is a vent enterance a-"

"Good! We'll take it!"

"What? W-wait lassy! What if it's blocked?"

"Do you see any other way out of here?"

Cait got quietly all a sudden as he realized that she had a point. Yuffie took his silence as a 'yes' and changed her direction to the vent she suggested.

At Junon, Cloud had checked into an inn and sat on the bed checking his delivery list one more time before he went to sleep for the night. His unscheduled stop earlier had messed up his timing. His mind replayed events from before he was unconscious out in the behemoth crossing area. He wasn't sure what to think of it really, even if he did imagine the black wing part, he was sure of seeing two men fighting. Why were they fighting? And with materia no less, and where did they do afterwards? They even left him unharmed nor didn't they check if he was ok, they just left him there. He concidered telling Zack about it after his text exchange with Tifa but it was already midnight and he was sure Zack was in deep sleep by now. He sighed stuffing the list in his bag and placed them on the night stand as he laid down in his bed. He could talk to Zack in the morning but now he really needed to get to sleep.

It got very quiet since Yuffie and Cait decided to change their route to escape a moments ago. She was sure now that they lost their pursuers but they have yet to reach the exit that Cait mentioned. Adding to her long list of worries, the vent they were now in was pretty old and she was hearing the metal flooring creak under her wieght. But she shouldn't show any worry or doubt, She was Wutai's greatest warrior after all.

"How much farther Cait?"

"With this pace, we may need an hour of crawling till we reach the exit"

"The hell?! That long?"

"Afraid so lass"

"You have got to be kidding me"

Yuffie dropped her head on the metal flooring and groaned in agony. The sudden sound of metal bending and creaking reached her ears at that moment reminded her that this shaft was too old to support her any longer. But before she could react somehow the shaft broke open under her, dropping both herself and Cait down into a pile of rocks and pipes.

She groaned after awhile and painfully dug herself out of the pile. She was half way out as she gasped for air and rested her upper body on the pile she was still stuck in. Cait poked his head out of the pile and easily got out and shook the pebbels out of his furr.

"You ok fluff face?"

"Aye lass, I'm still fully functioning. Good thing I fell on this"

Cait pulled out a chocobo plushie from under him and showed it to Yuffie and it apparently looked new too. 'He's one lucky cat' she sighed then pulled the rest of herself out of the pile and tumbled down at the bottom of the pile. 'What did I do to deserve this damn luck anyway?' she whined in her head, forcefully sitting herself up and rested her back on the pile, trying to catch her breath.

Cait on the other hand decided to look around the room they fell in. The room was large both in width and hieght and had large horizantal windows high up near the cieling. The room also had bed on the far end of the room, next to it was an open box filled with toys that were flooding out of it, and on the bed was a small tray containing a bottle of water and a half eaten sandwich. He concluded that they fell in a storage room that was currnetly being used to detain someone.

"Hey lass, maybe we should make like a tree and leave now"

"I-in a min-nute Cait, I ne-eed to rest for a bit"

"But what if someone's he-aahhh!"

Yuffie quickly got up on her feet, pulling out her giant 4 point shuriken, and stood in her battle stance facing Cait's direction. But what she saw wasn't a threat, it was only a little 3 or 4 year old girl hugging Cait with a huge smile on her face.

"Kitty!"

"H-Help me lass! She's coughing m-me to death!"

"Oh well you relax. It's just a kid"

She relaxed her stance and put away her weapon. The little girl looked away from Cait and stared innocently at her with curiousity. She was the same girl that she saw in the Deepground computer before they were discovered.

"Sowy, is dis you kitty?"

"Nah, he belongs to a friend of mine. You can keep playing with him if you want"

"L-lass!"

"Shush 'Kitty'"

Yuffie sent a threatening glare his way and he instantly clamed up to avoid her wrath. She then turned her attention back at the little girl with a cheerful smile on her face.

"I'm the great ninja Yuffieand this ball of fluff is Cait. What's yours kid?"

"Um... I down't ave one. The big scawy man das I'm Cetwa"

"No name eh? Then when we get out of here I'll help you get one. So can you tell me if there's a way out of here?"

"Out? I neber go out, big scawy man is scarwy and... boldie das is bad out dide"

"It's not bad outside I promise but staying here is. So trust me, I won't do anything to hurt you I swear"

"... Pinky dwear?"

The little girl reached her hand up towards Yuffie, extending her pinkie. Yuffie giggled as she got down to the girl's level with a smile and linked her own pinkie with the girls.

"Pinkie swear"

She replayed cheefully then picked the girl up in her arm, Cait still in the girl's possession, and looked around the room.

"So where's the exit kid?"

"Doow no open. Widnow open but too high"

The girl pointed up to one of the large windows that was open. Yuffie looked down directly under the desired window and found large crates neatly stacked against the wall. She held the girl tight, backing away a few steps from her spot and cronched down, her sights on the open window. She then ran at full speed towards the crates, quickly but carefully hopping from one crate to another till she finally jumped out off the open window and landed on the soild ground gracfully.

"Ha! Nothing to it"

Yuffie proclaimed with pride then placed the girl down on the ground and held one of her tiny hands in her own. Cait was then freed from the girl's grip and he followed behind them as they walked away from Deepground's base.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	36. Left Behind

**Chapter 36: **

It was so calm and peaceful on the this hill side over looking the village Zack had a hard time believing what Vincent told him about mutated creature roaming the area. His sword was in the ground next to him, its sharp edge shined from the moonlight reflected of it's surface. The atmoshphere around him was so relaxing that he ended up laying down on the cool grass and looked up at the glittering stars over head. He sighed comfortably, closing his eyes and placing his arms behind his head. Aerith would love living somewhere like this, the open air, the clear sky, the freindly faces, and the nature all around them. He won't mind living in the in a place like this either but he knew that both of them wouldn't want to be far away from friends and family. He'll have to discuss the living arrangements with her after her surgrey, that's if the doctor agreed to help them.

'It's gettig late and I need to be up early tomorrow' he hopped up on his feet and took up his sword from the ground. He stood still on his spot and continued to stare at his inherited sword and smiled 'I may not be SOLIDER anymore but I still up hold your morals. I hope your proud of me Angeal'. He placed his sword on his back then headed towards the village to call it a night.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

They had been walking for a while now passing through the broken down buildings and houses of Midgar while avoiding any patrol that happened to pass. The little girl yawned while trying to catch up to Yuffie.

"Tired lass?"

"Uhu"

The girl nodded weakly trying to keep her eyes open. Yuffie patted the girl's head and placed a hand behing her back to lead her.

"Don't worry we're almost out of here, just a little longer"

She looked up and suddenly she paniced, stopping dead in her tracks with Caith while the tired girl continued ahead. Yuffie quickly reachd out and grabbed the girl and pulled her back behind them. Around the corner was the gate leading out of Midgar but it was under heavy protection.

"Oh no las, we're trapped. What do we do?"

Yuffie didn't see a problem getting around the guards herself with her skills but Cait and the girl couldn't, so that was out of the question. But that's when she thought of a better idea. Maybe she could use her skills for something else that could benefit them all.

"Cait, I'm going to distract the guards. When the coast is clear take the kid and run to Kunsel at the meeting point. I'll catch up after I lose them."

"Lass that's dangerous! Are you sure?!"

"Sure I'm sure! No don't waste this chance I'm going to give you!"

Yuffie didn't give Cait another chance to talk her out of it as she pulled out her giant shuriken and headed to another street, that way she could get the guards' attention away from Cait and the girl as they escaped. She jumped out all a sudden in front of the guards and throw her weapon at them, the attack forced them to drop their weapons.

"Hey punks! You better get out of my way or face the wrath of the greatest ninja in the world, the pride and joy of Wutai!"

"It's the intruder! Get her!"

Yuffie jumped off the building that she was on and ran into the ruined city with all the deepground guards at the gate chasing after her. After everyone had left and the gate was abandond, Cait took the girl's hand and quickly went through the gate heading to the meeting point where Kunsel was waiting for them.

"W-waid Kitty! Yuffie not herw"

"Don't worry lassy, she's coming after us"

They continued running through the outskirts, the little girl kept looking back to the gate as it got smaller and smaller. She was scared but also excited about this sudden adventure she was on. When she looked ahead, she spotted a man in odd uniform near a van concealed between the trees.

"Who dat?"

"That's our friend Kunsel. He's a good guy"

Kunsel waved to Cait to come over unsure if he saw him because of all the trees around him.

"Good to see you still functioning Cait, but where's Yuffie?"

"She'll be here soon"

"And who's the kid?"

"We found her locked up in a storage room lad"

"Really? Why was she there?"

"No clue, but there has to be something about it in the file that I'v-"

Before he could finish his sentence, they all heard an explosion near by. Kunsel looked over to the direction of Midgar then at the girl and Cait.

"You two better get in. I have a bad feeling about what's coming"

"W-wait lad! Yuffie still isn't here yet"

"We can't just stand here! Besides, she can handle herself"

He grabbed both Cait and the girl and dragged them in the van, closing the door behind them. He then climbed into the drivers seat, not buckling his seat belt, and floored it. The car's engine came to life and drove at high speed away from Midgar. Cait made his way to the back seat window and stared out the window, looking at Midgar fading out of his view, a frown on his face.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The mako lake was still present in the Mideel reign, and it was filled with mutated creatures roaming around it. As long as he didn't bother them, they left him alone and unharmed. He stood as close as he could to the lake's border and bend down to study it. The edge was crystalized and shimmered in a dim green glow as it contained some of the lifestream trapped inside. It came as a surprise to him on how fast crystals have form in a recently created lake in just three short years. His bright red eyes caught an even odder sight in front of him, a light purple materia nested between sharp prisms. He reached in with his gauntlet covered arm and easily took it out without hurting himself. Because of it's color, he believed it to be a limit booster like this ones Zack showed him but he didn't know what to do with it though. He decided to take it to ask Zack what is it since he seemed to know what they are and do.

For the next hour he explored around the area for any signs of enemy activity, but he walked back towards the village empty handed. On his way back, he took out his cell phone and dialed Reeve's number to report his findings.

"Reeve, Vincent here. The mako lake lead was a dead end. There is no Deepground activity nor base here, only mutant monsters and materia crystals"

"Good job Vincent. Sorry for the wild goose chase but it's better to be safe then sorry"

"Should I head back to base then?"

"That's not necessary. There are no missions that we need you for yet so just sit back and enjoy Mideel with Zack and Cid for the meantime"

"... Zack's too hyper for my liking and Cid... I'm not really in the mood for his cursing"

"I see, well then just enjoy the veiw in that case"

Vincent could hear Reeve laughing on the other end of the phone, obviously enjoying his torment. He should change the subject before Reeve wants the details.

"By the way Reeve, how did the Midgar mission go?"

"Last thing Yuffie reported was that she and Cait had no problem reaching the computer room. She also infromed me that Deepground escapees were present in their old base and they had a professor with them but she couldn't tell who it was. After that the line was suddenly cut off"

"I'm sure she's fine. She's too stubborn to get caught by low ranked soliders"

"I can agree to that. Well then, enjoy your break"

After their conversation ended, Vincent stopped walking and looked up at the cresent illuminating all that it touched.

"Don't do anything stupid Yuffie".

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	37. Fearful Stress

**Chapter 37: **

"Damn it! You cheaters! Grenades are not allowed!"

She yelled back at her persuers who were still, after half an hour of running, trying to catch her. Whenever she was close to the gates they throw grenades in her way, forcing her to retreat into the city. And hiding was no longer possible as more and more soliders appeared in her path. This game of cat and mouse was getting on her nerves, especially since she was the mouse. She ran straight into an alley, wall jumped up the dead end wall and over the soliders' heads as she was now at the alley entrance. She swiftly pulled out her cherry bombs and throw them at the surprised soliders, blocking their veiw with thick black smoke. She then immediantly ran towards the gate to finally get out of this crazy place. She could see the exit ahead of her and not a guard insight, she thanked leviathen for this lucky break. Finally things where looking up after all the bad luck she had.

But she was celebrating too soon. For as soon as she was five feet away from the gate, a bolt of lighting greeted her and hit the ground in front of her forcing her to back back. She jerked her head back to find the source of the attack but was met with the sight of Deepground soliders surrounding her as well as the gate behind her close shut. 'Great, I'm trapped... But they won't make me their prisoner.' In her battle stance, shuriken in hand and glaring at her uncountable opponents.

"Come on! I'm itching for some skulls crack! So who's first?!"

Just then the soliders in front of her move a side, making room for a tall built man to walk between them and stand a bit in front. 'That pale face... Thoes blue and yellow eyes... That crazy white spiky hair! I-it can't be. H-he's supposed to be dead!' her eyes were fully wide and she was unintentionally stepping away from him.

"Hello little ninja."

"Y-Your W-Weiss the Immacute! B-but Vincent killed you!"

"So you've heard of me? Then we can just cut to the chase, where is 'she'?"

Yuffie didn't reply and instead continued to step back till her back was to the gate doors. It wasn't helping her to be in such a situation and to add to her horrior Weiss was walking closer and closer to her. There was no way out of this mess, she couldn't form one escape plan to save her life. She had no options left, her friends will call her crazy for this, she had to do it. With that decided, she got into her battle stance and stared at him with all the hate she could muster. Her opponent stopped his advance but kept his eyes on her.

"Oh? Are you challenging me little girl?"

"I'm not a 'little girl'! I, the single white rose of Wutai, will not stand for it! My very presences causes the skies and earth to whimper in fear!"

"Your weapon and skills will prove your ranking as a warrior"

He pulled out his gunblades and got in his own battle stance, his body glowing blue with energy. The grin on his face scared of her but she won't show him that, besides what would Vinny say if she lets the fallen emperor's appearance frighten her?

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The girl had been crying and screaming ever since Kunsel carried her into the WRO base. Cait had tried to clam her down by any means necessary but he failed everytime and deided to covering his own ears instead. Everyone at the base except Reeve, who was either asleep or working late, were now surrounding Kunsel and Cait glaring at them.

Shelke made her way through the crown and was finally standing in front of them, they could see the black rings under her eyes, this wasn't going to end well for them. She rubbed her sleep deprived eyes then narrowed her sights at both Kunsel and Cait.

"What's with all the noise? And why are you carrying a child Kunsel?"

"C-cait came from the mission with the child in toll."

Shelke shifted her gaze at Cait now.

"Why did you bring her here? And Where in Gaia is Yuffie?!"

"Easy lassy! This girl was held captive by Deepground and Yuffie decided to save her. As for Yuffie... Um... We were forced to her behind."

"... You WHAT?!"

"I had no hand in this lassy!"

"What seems to be the problem?"

Reeve calmly interupted their argument, everyone in the room turned their attention to him. Even the girl stopped crying and stared quietly at him. He made eye contact with the teary eyed girl and was puzzled at how she resembled Aerith and Zack.

"W-who's child is that? And where did you find her?"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

'This is a disaster!' Tifa thought as she came inside from the roof for the fifth time tonight and she still couldn't find Aerith anywhere. Her only clues were the black feathers scattered on the roof top. She had searched every room in the building too but nothing came up. How was she going to explain this to everyone? Cloud and Zack to be exact.

So many questions raced in her mind and she couldn't answer any of them. She headed to her and Cloud's room and just collapsed on the bed face first. She was sore and tired from all the work she had to do all day and Aerith suddenly disappearing only added to her stress. She was going to call everyone and ask to help look for her but she didn't want to worry them, plus everyone was probably asleep by now. Aerith was her responsibility while the guys were away and she ended up failing them.

Just then her cell phone rang, causing her to quickly sit up and search her pockets for it. When she did found it she swiftly pulled the phone out and flipped the phone screen open, the caller ID read 'Aerith'. Without missing a beat her finger press on the 'Accept' button and puts the phone to her ears.

"Aerith?! Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine Tifa, there's no need for you to worry about me."

"How can I not be worried about you?! I went to the roof to help you but you weren't there! And the freathers-"

"It's ok I'm safe, it's not who you thinkit is."

"B-But-"

"Listen, if anyone asks just cover for me... It's only for tonight"

"Y-You are safe, right? And you'll be here tomorrow morning?"

"I'll try."

"Aerith-"

"Trust me Tifa, please."

"... Just this once, if you aren't back here tomorrow I'll come looking for you. I swear I will."

"Alright, Sorry for this. I'll make sure to be back."

And that was the end of that, Tifa still had the phone to her ear listeing to nothing. She just seemed lost after that chat with Aerith. She was worried about her friend and what she was up to but she had to trust her, for now.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	38. Last Breath

**Chapter 38: **

This place was part of her heritage, her ancester's city, but this was also were she met her end and her grave. It was scary looking at this place now especially since the lake entrance was pitch black becuase of Sepiroth's remnnents. She wasn't very happy being in such a place but the man who brought her here insisted that she should be here. The man, Genesis, gracefully landed down facing the entrance of the forgotten city, Then turned to look at her.

"I hope I didn't cause you any discomfort by taking you at such a time."

"No it's fine, as long as you keep your promise and take me back home before morning."

"As much as I dont' want you to return, I'll keep my end of the deal milady."

"Just call me Aerith."

"Alright."

"So why did you bring me here?"

"Lets go somewhere safe then I'll explain everything you need to know."

He decended down into the forgotten capital, passing through all the strange but attractive shell like structures and holographic images around them. He suddenly stopped at the one at the end of the long line and entered it. It wasn't dustly and was somewhat furnished with simple chairs, a table, and a bed. He then placed her at the table then went to take his seat at the other end of it.

"Now then, let me formally introduce myself . I'm Genesis Rhapsodes or 'G' if you want, I was one of your boyfriend's superiors back in SOLIDER. I'm afraid that I wasn't the 'best' role model I should have been and I've caused alot of pain and suffering. But that was a very long time ago, and I'm doing the best that I can to undo my wrongs. Sadly, this is one mistake that I could not prevent."

"I-Is it that bad?"

He said nothing more and just pulled out a thick folder and lets it slide across the table to her. She stared at the thick file, it was labeled in big red letters 'Next Generation Cetra'.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Shelke quickly dug through the data Cait had downloaded from Deepground's network. While she was busy with that task, Reeve listened to carefully to Cait's explanation of the events after Yuffie's last phone call.

"I see then I'll contact Yuffie immediately to see if she needs backup."

"Aye sir... So, what about the kid?"

"We aren't a babysitting agency but I'll phone in a favor till we can locate her parents."

"How do we do that Reeve?"

"I'm sure the files you've collected have some clues on that."

"I'm afraid there isn't any in this data sir."

Shelke intruppted their coversation, her eyes still glued to the screen and searching the data just incase she missed something important.

"That specific file is not here."

"That must have been the file that was connected to the alarm system."

"So they had an alarm system connected to that very file just incase someone tried to download it? It must have been very important for them to do that."

Shelke placed her hand under her chin and thought for a minute as she continued to stare at the screen. Afterwards she turned her gaze at Reeve and got off her seat.

"Since Yuffie's still there then maybe she could go back to the computer room and collect that file before leaving the area?"

"Good point, lets see if we can reach her."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

She was badly hurt, both her arms and legs were bleeding from the deep wounds, and the corner of her mouth was dripping blood as well. She was panting a lot while her opponent just stood relaxed, he wasn't even breaking a sweat after an hour long fight. He was still grinning at her too! The nerve of him! She charged straight at him with all her might and throw her shuriken at him and also took out her caltrop. But her efforts were worthless as Weiss simply took out his blade and broke the giant shuriken in half then kicked her side just enough to get her down to the ground. She dropped her caltrap and held her side, curling up into a ball on the hard ground and holding back her tears from the pain. Weiss didn't stop there though, he placed one foot on her head and slowly increased the pressure on her skull.

"Is this the best a great ninja from Wutai can offer my thrust for bloodshed? Such a sad display."

Just then, her cell phone rang and intruppted his torturing of her. Yuffie quickly took the broken half of her shuriken and jabbed it to his leg, forcing him to back off her and she from him.

"Well that was uncounted for but I must say, I'm quiet impressed that you still have some fight left in you."

Yuffie looked at him in disgust, then at her phone which was still ringing. She turned back to look at her opponent as she pulled out her phone and flipped it open, the crazy person calling her at such an hour was Reeve. Answering him now was out of the question, she was in completely bad shape plus Deepground would use this to find the WRO base. She thought this through, there was no other choice for her to take. If she wanted to keep her friends safe then she had to push herself beyond her limits. Her fingers quickly type a word to Reeve while her sights were set on Weiss.

"You know Weiss, Your name sounds more like chiken-wiss to me."

His smile immediately reduced and his aura glow brighter, he was falling for her trick so easily. She then closed the phone and tightened her grip on it as it rang again.

"You just dug your grave little girl."

"Good, I wasn't planning on leaving this fight unfinished. And for the last time, I'm not a 'little girl'. I'm the greatest ninja in the ! Just hold that though for a sec."

She dropped the still ringing phone on the ground then, with one swift move, she smashed the decive into small unrepairable pieces with her broken weapon which surprised both Weiss and his soliders. She did not regret that action, not one bit, and she stood as stable as she could with her broken weapon in hand, ready for the final show down.

"I, the great ninja Yuffie, will keep fighting you till my last breath."

"HA! Even when you know the out come of this battle, you still want to keep going? Such a fool, and for that I will make your death fast and painless."

That was the last thing she heard from him before they began the fight again. She final thoughts flashed through her mind at the same time 'Sorry Vinny... Guess I won't be able to see your face when you open your gift."

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	39. The Suspense

**Chapter 39: **

Zack strolled the small village in the early morning before he headed to the clinic. He enjoyed the fresh morning air in the late summer days, sure the night was good and all but it doesn't compare to this sunny morning. 'Man, this is great! Wish I brought Aerith along, she would love this!' he was humming happily heading to the direction of the clinic.

When he got there he spotted Cid siting in a chair on the porch smoking, like usual, and Vincent was hiding in the darkest shady spot he could find to escape the morning sun's rays. Zack kept staring at Vincent till said man glared at him seemingly annoyed.

"Something wrong?"

"Um? Oh no, nothing honest!"

"Aha."

'Geez, Yuffie was right, he does act like a vampire' Zack chuckled and looked up at the clinic.

"So the doc isn't here yet?"

Cid twitched a bit then glared at Zack.

"Of course he ain't here yet kid. Do you think we'd be sitting out here if he were here?!"

"Ok! Point taken Cid!"

Zack waved his arms defensively towards the cranky man and stepped away from him 'I probably shouldn't have asked that'. He then suddenly felt someone coming up behind him so he quickly turn around to see who it was. To his companions' luck, it was the doctor and one of his nurses.

"Can I help you people?"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Kunsel was following the little girl around the base since morning. She was asleep in his room while he was on partol at night. When he got back to the room at five A.M. She ran out of the door and knocked on every room in the coridor asking for a man in a blue dress, she obviously meant his boss Reeve. 'What is this importat dream that she had that she has to tell Reeve? And why Reeve for that matter? Why not tell me? Is it because of my uniform? Maybe I should tell her that Reeve doesn't sleep in the base's dorms like some of the staff do?' he thought to himself when the girl got into the tech lab in front of them.

"KITTY! WAKE UP!"

She called out as she shook Cait who was currently in rechage mood and offline too. 'Wow, she found where were store and recharge Cait' Kunsel sighed as he walked in after her and stood right behind her.

"Hey kid, um... Kitty's asleep right now."

"B-but I news! Bad, bad newz!"

'bad newz? Odd way for her to say bad dream or nightmare for that matter' Kunsel got down to her level and patted her head to get her attention.

"Can you tell me what this 'bad newz' is?"

The girl got quiet and tried to avoid making eye contact with him, eventually finding her dusty shoes to be facinating. He guessed that his uniform was the cause of the gap between him and the child so he reach up to his helmet and took it off. The girl loked up to him now and stared, her eyes sparkled for some reason. This was making him feel very uncomfortable.

"I-Is everything alright kid?"

"...Medy air!"

She, out of curiousity, reached up trying to touch his light brown messy hair, dropping Cait to her feet.

"'Medy air'? You mean 'messy hair' don't you?"

"Eh?"

"Never mind. So what was it that you wanted to tell Reeve and Cait so badly that you couldn't wait a few more hours?"

The girl stopped reaching for his hair all a sudden and dropped them to her side. Her head dropped now facing the floor so he couldn't see her face anymore for whatever reason. He soon realized what was going on when he saw her shoulders shook and the unmistakeble sound of sobbing erupt from her.

"H-Hey! What's wrong kid? Did I say something wrong?"

He paniced, thinking that he pushed the wrong button or something like how most of his dates end. But the girl suddenly jumped up into his arms and cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Y-yuffie n-not coming!"

She screamed, holding on to his shirt uniform and burried her face into his chest. Kunsel might have been in shock after hearing that but that didn't stop him from patting the little girl's back, trying to calm her down.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Tifa ran around the bar carrying order after order for her customers. Since it was a Saturday, the place was filled to the max, and the kids were upstairs watching T.V. if it weren't for those two factors she would have left to look for Aerith an hour ago. 'Maybe I'm rushing this? I mean its still too early for Aeirth to appear yet. Which reminds me, how did she leave in the first place? Reeve still didn't fix that float materia and she refused to use Cid's untested spider wheel chair because it scared her. And what left all those black feathers on the roof?' she was suddenly pulld back to reality when one of her customers got impatient with her and called out to her. She dropped the subject for now, she needs to focus on her job for now.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

In the afternoon, Cloud was driving his way back to Edge after delivering his last package to someone living in Kalm. This trip was normal compared what happened to him yesterday , luckily he wasn't late in his deliveries because of that inccident. Now he can finally go home and enjoy the rest of his Saturday, maybe even tell the kids about the different things that he had seen on his trip, not the one about the two figures though. Just then his cell phone rang, he carefully pulled out his phone and placed it to his ear. But he didn't get the chance to say his greeting before a loud yell called out first.

"CLOUD!"

The loud yell caused him to almost drop his phone from the shock but thankfully he had strapped it to his wrist before actually answering the phone. He grabbed the phone and placed it back to his ear, his caller continued.

"THEY SAID YES!"

The overly excited caller was none other thank his best, and optimistic friend Zack fair.

"Easy on my ear Zack, and who said 'yes'?"

"If you let us give you a lift then I'll tell you."

"'Us'? 'Lift'? what are you talking about Za-"

The sky suddenly got dark, it was only over him and the forecast didn't say anything about it beng cloudy or rainny for that matter. When he looked up, he spotted the Shera over his head with Zack and Vincent standing in the open deck. Zack had his cell phone to his ear and was waving at him, yelling in the phone.

"So? What do you say?!"

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	40. Cover Up

**Chapter 40: **

'It's 3 o'clock! Where is she?!' Tifa's mind was busy with questions while she was sitting at the bartender's table, her hands to her forehead. The bar's customers were about five and they sat scattered all around the bar. The kids, who were upstairs all morning, were now down at the bar level sitting at one of the tables drawing quietly. She would love to get out of the bar and go look for Aerith but she couldn't just leave the kids alone. And like it wasn't already bad enough, right on que Zack and Cloud walked in. She felt the color drained completely out of her face, they were here earlier then they said they would.

"Tifa! Aerith! We're home!"

Zack announced excited Cloud on the other hand rolled his eyes and he followed his tall friend into the bar.

"G-guys! Your back early?"

Tifa walked away from the bartender's table and to him, faking a simle.

"I-i didn't know you two were coming this early."

"Yeah, sorry Tifa... We should have called first."

Cloud averted his eyes from hers and scratched his head, embarrassed.

"W-well it's not a problem!"

Tifa's eyes suddenly catch Zack making his way to the stair case. 'No! Stall him girl!' Tifa rushed to Zack and grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"W-Wait Zack! Where are you going?"

"Um, Upstairs to talk to Aerith. She wasn't in the bar kitchen so I thought she might be eitheron the roof with her flowers or in our room."

"B-but the kids missed you both a lot! So why not spend sometime with them first? Besides Aerith's probably asleep, she was pretty tired before."

"Well I could but they are busy with Cloud now."

Zack pointed towards Denzel and Marlene who were burying poor Cloud with questions about the places he had visited. Zack took this opportunity to slip his arm out of Tifa's grip and attempted to head up stairs but Tif grabbed him again, stopping his advance.

"W-wait! Before you goand wake Aerih up, c-can you repair a table that broke?"

"Um... Sure? But I don't see a table missing here."

"Did I say broke? I meant put together a new one!"

Cloud looked away from the children and placed his attention on his girlfriend, he was confused at her stantment just now.

"You brought a new table? Why? We already have enough down here."

Tifa dug herself into a deep hole now, she couldn't think of anymore excuses. The two men were eyeing her suspiously as she was trying to come up with anything, but nothing came to her. She couldn't take those looks from them anymore, she had to tell them the truth.

"A-Actually guys, there isn't any broken tables nor did I buy a new one. T-the truth is..."

Before she could tell them anymore, they all heard a loud thud coming from upstairs. That's when Zack bolted and headed straight upstairs, they all heard a door slam. Tifa placed her head in her hands, waiting for Zack to yell out where Aerith was. But instead she heard him say something else unexpected.

"Tifa! Got any towels?"

"Um yeah, why?"

"Aerith accidently dropped a glass of water."

"...Say what?"

That's when she heard the last person she expected to hear from, Aerith.

"Sorry! It slipped!"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Vincent made his way into the WRO base and headed to the dorm section of the building. His metal gear on his shoes clincking on the floor as he walked. His hair was messier than usual, he had Zack's odd wake up call to thank for that. On his way to the dorms, Cait happened to have spotted him and ran straight to him.

"Hi lad! Your back! Listen there's something I need to te-"

"Not now Cait, I'm tired"

"Let me guess, Zack?"

"Is there anyone else?"

Vincent sighed, now he was standing in front of his room. He looked over at Cait and lifted a brow.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh yeah! Just sit tight, I'll get Reeve and we'll explain everything to ya!"

Cait got on all fours and ran out of his sight. Vincent stood staring at the spot Cait disappeared into then turned to the direction of his room door and got in slamming it shut. The room was a standard appartment size, it had room for a sofa, a T.V, a bed and there was a bathroom. The first thing he did was take off his cape and gear then headed to his bed. He didn't notice something placed on the bed till he sat down on it. He quickly got up and stared at the bed, on it was a neatly folded red cape, a key chain shaped as a gun, and a messy folded paper crane on top of it all. He carefully took the messy crane and unfolded it, there was a message inside.

'Hi Dracula!

I didn't see you last night so I dropped the stuff in your room instead. I bought you a new cape since your old one has so many holes in it. So you better wear it the next time I see you or else you'll never see your old one again!

P.S: That's a 'Gun' chain NOT a 'Key' chain! They are two totally different CHAINS!

~Your Shadow,

Yuffie'

He had a tiny smile on his face, she was a strage one but she always knew how to make him feel like a normal guy. Just then he heard a knock on his door so he swiftly hid the messege in his pocket and faced the door.

"Come in."

Reeve and Cait entered the room with some tiny hands holding on to Reeve's outfit, the rest of the tiny person was hidden behind Reeve.

"Something wrong Reeve?"

"You could say that, but could you deliver something to Zack and Aerith bfore I assignment you to the mission first?"

"Sure... What is it that you wnat me to deliver?"

Reeve said nothing and just stepped aside, showing Vincent the little girl Cait brought from Deepground her eyes swollen from crying a while ago. He could see the surprise and shock in Vincent's eyes, he too took notice at how the girl had similiar features to Aerith.

"For now Vincent I can't explain to you what her connection to Aerith is but I feel it's safer t keep her under her's and Zack's care till we have that information. Your other mission is to help one of our agents that went missing in Deepground's base in Midgar."

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	41. Exposed

_Sorry guys, I didn't like the amount of errors I had in this chapter so I edited it..._

_..._

**Chapter 41:**

"Where were you Aerith? I was this close to running out of the bar and look for you. And even closer to tell the guys that you were missing."

Tifa whispered to Aerith while gesturing with her fingers just how close she was to breaking down before. Aerith, on the other hand, giggled at how worried she had made The long haired brunet. They were having this chit chat in the bar's kitchen, far away from their men's hearing and veiw.

"You're over reacting Tifa, but I am truly sorry for being late... My 'ride' took a wrong turn somewhere along the way."

"... Your 'ride'?"

"I'll tell you about it later."

Aerith brushed off her friend's question and got straight to cooking. Although she looked calm and smiling, she was actually concerned over what Genesis revealed to her last night. It was quite a shocking and she was sure Zack would be too since it involved him as well. Other than that, she barely had any sleep after hearing about it and spent the entire night trying to hear what the planet's opinion on the matter was. The planet however did not give her the answer she was hoping for and instead shared with her a lot of topics of interest, one of them involved Yuffie. But her hearing was drowned with whisperes that she couldn't not focus on any of then and decided to stop trying. She'll try to listen to the planet again tonight, that is if Zack will let her.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful for everyone, the usual routine followed it's course. But about half an hour before closing time, Aerith was still in the kitchen, this time she was preparing the household's dinner rather than the customers. The kids garthered around Cloud on one of the empty tables as he looked over they're leftover home work from yesterday. Tifa was still serving some drinks to the remaining customers while Zack was the bar bouncer for the night.

Aerith at one point began to doze off from exhaustion, the stove might have been on low but the pot was almost to the point of boiling over. Lucky for her, Zack had decided to check up on her and quickly took notice of the boiling pot. With the little cooking skill that he knew, he was able to turn off the stove and cover the pot with its lid. He sighed in relief after seeing that the pot stopped bubbling and returned to its natural state, then his attention was turned to Aerith who looked to be asleep with her eyes half shut. However, her eyes shot wide open after hearing Tifa call out the last rounds for the night. She didn't seem to notice him at first though and was checking the pot thinking that it must have boiled over during her short nap.

"You ok angle? You look tired for someone who was asleep hours ago."

"Sorry Zack, I guess I didn't sleep as much as I needed after all"

'Actually I haven't slept at all to begin with' she thought to herself while rubbing her eyes. She had thought about telling him what Genesis told her but she couldn't actually tell him that she was out to the forgotten city. And that she had a little chat with one of his old mentors, can she? The idea was tempting, but she'd rather wait till the timing was right and share what she discovered with him. Besides, she didn't even know where the subject of interest had gone since Genesis told her that it mysteriously vanished from its hidding place within Deepground's base.

Just then Vincent entered the bar and headed straight to Tifa who was at the counter as usual. His cape catching the attention of Marlene who thought that something was hidding within it by the way it suspesiously moved.

"Tifa, is Zack or Aerith around?"

The long haired women looked up from what she was doing and stared up at him in confusion.

"Yeah, why's that?"

"Reeve wanted me to give them something."

"Alright, I'll go get them. Wait here for a sec."

With that, Tifa headed to the back of the bar where the kitchen was. As she left Marlene got off her seat and walked over to Vincent, examining the odd looking cape with interest. He did nothing to stop her from meddling with his new cape and just stood rooted to his spot, studying her reaction carefully. She cautiously poke the odd bump in the cape, her eyes sparkled in excitment as she observered it jerk away from her and move to the other side of Vincent's cape. She then looked up at him and begged him with her eyes to let her explore this oddity further. He did not give her a verbal response and instead lifted his cape up a bit, gesturing for her to do as she pleased. Marlene responded with a big smile across her face then got under his cape.

When Tifa came back with Zack and Aerith, they all stopped and stared at Vincent's still posture then at the wildly moving cape aroud him. Zack couldn't contain his laughter and just let it out, seemingly very amused at how silly Vincent looked to him.

"What's wrong with your cape Vincent? Do you have some problems under there?"

"I've somehow become an item of amusment."

The smallest figure under his cape tripped over his boots and tumbled out into the others' view, Zack stopped his laughter and hurried over to the little girl, helping her up gently to her feet.

"Hey, you ok kid? You aren't hurt are you?"

"... No."

The little girl rubbed her eyes wiping away her tiny tears. The moment she looked up Zack's eyes widden in both surprise and shock. His eyes turned from the girl to Aerith, considering the uncanning resemblence that they shared. Aerith did look surprised at this sudden discovery but not as much as himself. He then stared at Vincent questionably, Vincent replayed by shaking his head not knowing the answer as well.

"Reeve couldn't explain this either but he said that he'll tell you as soon as he finds one."

"Tell him there's no need for that."

Aerith interrupted, now everyone's eyes were on her. She ignored the stares and rolled her wheel chair over to Zack and the little girl.

"I can explain this but... not now."

She looked at the handful of customers left in the bar from the corner of her eyes then turned back to Zack.

"Later I promise."

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


	42. Decisions

I didn't like the amount of mistakes in the last chapter so I went back and edited it...

...

Chapter 42:

An hour after the bar closed for the night, Aerith sat at one of the tables with the new child on her lap, braiding her midlength hair to keep it from covering the little girl's eyes. Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel where at the same table trying to get the little girl to talk to them.

"So how are are you?"

Marlene asked eagerly, she was sitting nearest to the girl and Aerith. But the little girl shyly looked down at her hands. Denzel placed a hand to his cheek and observed Marlene's hundredth attempt at striking a conversation with the new girl.

"Maybe she can't talk?"

"But she did reply when Zack asked her if she was ok."

"Then maybe she's shy?"

"Very shy!"

Marlene complained to Denzel then stared at the girl again. Tifa giggled quietly then stared at the shy girl. With the braided hair she was looking more like Aerith did, save for the hair and one eye color difference. It struck her as odd how this resemblance was possible, unless she was related to Aerith. She also had some similarities with Zack which made it even harder to understand.

Aerith finally finished braiding the child's hair, she was satisfied with how it turned out and as an added bonuse the girl looked so cute.

"There you go, that'll keep your hair from getting into your eyes."

The girl turned her head around to stare up at her, her mouth seemed to move as if she was trying to tell her something. But she then closed her mouth shut and shyly looked down to her hands. Aerith could feel the anxiety in the child's aura so she stroke her back gently to ease her mind. She definitly didn't imagnie the child being this young and innocent when she read the reports, She was actually relieved knowing this now.

At other table, Zack was tapping his fingers on the table out of boredom while Cloud, who was sitting next to him, was observing his friend's behaveiour in silence. This was his first time seeing his friend in such a state and it worried him a lot. Vincent had gone to get Reeve since Aerith knew that he'd want to hear about who the girl his agent risked helping was and her relation to his two friends.

"... And you were on my case a mouth ago about skipping a step in my relationship"

"Don't start that subject with me Cloud, I don't feel like answering."

"Really? Then what do you think of this kid?"

"How should know? She couldn't be ours, Aerith and I woke up just a month ago. And we didn't really get a chance 'do it' before either."

"I believe you Zack, but that doesn't change the fact that she looks a lot like Aerith and you."

"I know."

"And Aerith doesn't seem too bothered about it-"

"I KNOW, what's taking Reeve so long?"

Zack sighed, hitting his head on the head which made Cloud realise that maybe he should have talked about something else. To Zack's relief, Reeve and Vincent arrived at that very moment.

"Finally, Aerith! Reeve's here!"

He called out, alerting everyone of the arrival of their friends. Aerith nodded and reached back to her wheel chair's pouch, pulling out the thick folder Genesis had given her and placed it on the table for everyone to see. Cloud was the first to take his eyes off the folder and stare questionably at Aerith.

"Um... Aerith, where did you get this?"

"A friend got it to me this morning. Anyways I didn't have time to read over the whole folder but basically this little girl is in fact Zack and mine's biological daughter."

Vincent studied the girl on Aerith's lap carefully, there was some mako embedding in her system that he could sense. The girl quietly stared back at the man then suddenly reached out and pinched his nose. Vincent gave not reaction to her action and standed very still letting her countinue.

"There's no doubt that she's yours and Zack's offspring, let's just hope that the experiments done on her aren't the same one Sephiroth had undergone."

Everyone went silent after that statement Vincent brought up. Zack could see the pained look on their faces, of course any topic that involved Sephiroth meant bad news. Could didn't look that happy remembering the long platinum haired pshyco either, and who would blame him? Not him that's for sure. He then turned his attention to Aerith who was stroking the little girl's head.

"What do you think about this Aerith?"

"Well I can't really deny that she might be dangerous but I can't say it's her fault either."

She had a point there, she's just as scared and confused as all of them were at the moment. He crossed his arms to his chest and closed his eyes 'It's true that we can't ignore the fact that born from our DNA and was possibly experimented on like Sephiroth. But she is an innocent kid that probably has no clue about what was done to her. It would be a hassle having her around but we can't just pretend that we didn't see her either.' After he finally decided on a course of action, he clapped his hands together to attract the others' attention.

"Well my mind's made up! Reeve you can keep the file about this kid but in exchange I want you to tell me if you find anything about what abilities I should know about."

Tifa sat up in her seat completely surprised at what the tall spiky haired man just announced.

"W-wait, are you thinking of taking her in Zack?"

"Well yeah, I can't really ignore her. Plus its not her fault she was part of an experiment."

Zack explained with his usual cheerful expression and head scratching behavior. Aerith rolled up next to him also bearing a smile.

"I don't mind having her around either. Besides I don't want Deepground to hurt her, she looked tormented enough."

"Excatly!... Wait you-"

"I was part of the process that gave birth to her too so I might as well take the role too."

Aerith replyed to his shock with a warm smile, He couldn't say no to her wanting to look after the kid. Throwing aside his shock, he smiled right back at her.

Tifa glanced over at Cloud to see if he had a problem with it but he didn't seem to mind. He then turn to look back at her, a smile on his face as he nodded to her.

"We dont see why you two can't. heehee now that I look at it she does look cute, it's hard to think of her as troule with a face like that."

"Since she has some of Zack's genes she might as well be a little trouble maker in disguise."

Aerith added with a giggle. Zack quickly looked away from the group to hide his embarassment.

"H-hey, I don't cause trouble, it just finds me!"

Zack turned back to face the group after he was sure his blush was gone.

"Anyway, we still have a problem that needs to be addressed."

The others exchange glances with one another then turn back to stare questionably at Zack. All he did was grin in responce to their stares.

"Oh come on guys, we can't keep calling her 'kid' all the time. She needs a good name."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"I guess that old bag wasn't making it up after all."

Weiss spoke to no one as he stood in front of two mako tanks in the abandond lab that the failed experiments were kept in. The professor had told him that the experiments were gone a day ago but he didn't believe him. This may be an issue later when the plan was to be set in motion but for now they still needed to retreive the child before that.

As for the intruder, he was sure that she could be of use to his plan. After all, theu needed a new host for Omega's squire since the previous host gave him up.

...

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story or locations. All of that is copyright to Square-Enix and the Crew who made FFVII and Crisis Core.


End file.
